Dreaming of Paradise
by NicoleLightwood
Summary: She's a sixteen-year-old, Coldplay-loving, diary-writing geek who has never spoken since her father's death 8 years ago. He's a hot new guy that has recently moved to New York with his siblings. They both are helping out as volunteers in the local animal shelter. And along with their love for Coldplay and a talent show, they find out that they have more in common than they think.
1. Chapter 1- Frozen Yogurt

**Hi. As I've mentioned in Idris High, I said I would be writing a new story. This is it! Please review so I will know if I should continue the story! Thanks.**

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**Clary pov.**

I drew a flower onto my diary.

A daisy, with oblong petals and a yellow center. I smiled as I shaded the center with a yellow prismacolor pencil.

I finished the stem, and then as usual, wrote my daily diary entry next to the daisy.

_Dear diary,_

_Hi. Today I was at the animal shelter to help Elodie out. I saw these daisies on my way there, and they reminded me of dad._

_He used to put them in my hair when I was about 6. We would have fun at the park and he would give me piggyback rides. He would bow down to me like I was a princess when he put daisies in my hair, like a crown. _

_I miss him so much._

_With love, Clary_

My dad died when I was 8. Him and I were at a store, going to buy a present for my mom's birthday. And then robbers came in. I was screaming, screaming in fear. My dad was protecting me, and then one of the robbers shot my dad in the chest.

And that was it. He was gone.

I mourned for him every single day, and I'm still angry at mom for replacing my dad, Valentine for her rich boyfriend, Luke.

Elodie's animal shelter is my second home, and I usually go there after school to help out, sometimes I would go there with Jonathan. But today I went there myself.

I plugged my earphones into my ears and clicked onto Paradise by Coldplay. It was my all time absolute-favorite song ever, and I usually replayed it a lot of times before stopping.

_Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise _

_Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise _

_Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise._

Someone knocked on the door. It was my brother Jonathan. He had white blonde-hair and dark eyes, just like my dad. He smiled as he held out a bowl of cherries to me. Yum. I love cherries.

I gave him a grin and took the bowl, popping the fruits into my mouth.

"You're welcome." He said, turning around and walking back to his room.

My name is Clary. I am 16 years old. And I don't speak. Well, I only do to my sketchbook.

Not since my father's death, anyway. I have never talked for 8 years, and I still am not. Nobody can make me talk, and I won't let them.

o~O~o

I walked down the street with Jonathan, music blasting into my ears. We were going to pop over to Pinkberry for some Fro-yo.

Yum. I loved Fro-yo.

"So Clare, are you ready for school?"

I shook my head no. I gestured to him and gave him a questioning glance.

"No, I'm not, either." He said, understanding me perfectly.

We stopped at Pinkberry, and he ordered us our yogurt cups. He walked over to our table and placed two cups of yogurt onto the table.

I smiled at him.

"You're welcome." Jonathan said, smiling and digging into his cup.

I loved plain white ones. My brother adored chocolate topped with more chocolate, and I had plain yogurt with a small mountain of fruits piled on top of it.

I dug in. It was heaven, for a hot summer day.

I saw three teenagers, about my age walk into the store. Two of them were possibly siblings, a boy and a girl, with the same dark hair, skin, and features. The only difference was that (they're a different gender) they had different eye colors. The girl had brown while the boy had blue.

And the other guy, probably their friend, was gorgeous. Curling blonde hair, gold eyes and tanned skin, he looked like an angel. I had to tear my eyes away from him every 5 seconds, and it was hard.

He seemed to notice me because he glanced my way and raised his eyebrows. I looked away and spooned a spoon of yogurt into my mouth, embarrassed.

Jonathan elbowed me. I looked up. _Yeah?_

"That guy is really _hot."_ He said, laughing.

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the ribs, my face flushing. I could feel it.

"Yeah, you are."

I made a face and tried to ignore them as the three bought their yogurt and sat at the table right next to me and Jonathan, which was a bit weird, since there were a lot of empty tables in the store.

Jonathan started laughing uncontrollably as the siblings turned to stare at him, a confused look on their faces. I stuck my tongue out at him which was basically Clary-talk for "You're an idiot."

"I know I am, Clary."

I grinned and went back to my yogurt, popping the strawberry into my mouth. We finished, and I can't help but give golden boy a glance before turning on our backs and walking out the store.

o~O~o

I stared at the outfit that I had picked out specially for my first day of school. A soft black cardigan, a white t-shirt with a graphic cat on it, grey leggings and brown boots. I brushed my hair so it looked normal and went to the living room for breakfast, my iPod touch in my hand.

My mom, Jonathan and Luke. I gave my mom and Jonathan a smile for good morning. Jonathan was sitting at the table, spooning pancake into his mouth.

"Aren't you excited, honey, for your junior year?" My mom asked enthusiastically.

I shrugged. I wondered if golden boy and his friends were going to be in my school.

"Aw, hon, you'll have fun! No worries!"

Yeah, right. No worries. No worries at all.

"The third year of high school is really important for a student's educational process. I love you, Clare-bear, and I know you will do well."

I nodded. "You'll get through this." Luke said.

I shrugged. Maybe.

"I'll stick by your side, Clare. I'll make sure none of those freaks annoy you."

I smiled and gave my brother's hand a squeeze.

I thought of my dad, knowing that he would be proud of me completing three quarters of high school. I would make him proud for doing well in my junior year.

I gave them a nod.

"Okay honey, you have to go now or else you'll be late."

I gave my mom a kiss on the cheek and ignored Luke before walking opening the door to my apartment, Jonathan right next to me.

"Alicante High, here we come."

o~O~o

I am still known as the "art-freak-who-never-talks".

Quite frankly, Jonathan is the only person I trust in my school. Nobody else I trust. I just don't.

I trudged through the hallways, my head lowered as people noticed and whisper about me. Jonathan shot them glares.

I got to my assigned locker, which was right across the cafeteria. My brother called that area the "barfburger hall".

"My locker is near you." He said. "Mine's at the corridor."

The sunny corridor. I pouted. Lucky.

"Yeah, sorry, I'd love to change with you, but I'd rather not have my locker at barfburger hall."

I rolled my eyes, a side of my lip curling up. I crossed my arms. Jonathan laughed.

"Oooh, look who it is, it's the little mute freak."

I turned around to face Aline, the slut queen who always bullied me. I grimaced at her and turned back to my locker.

"Go bother someone else, Aline." Jonathan growled at her.

"Who do you think you're talking to, blondie-"

"Aline. Enough." someone cut her off. It was Golden boy! So he _was _in this school.

I turned and looked up at him, eyebrows raised.

"She's asking if she knows you." My brother said.

"Yes, I saw you in Pinkberry. You were staring at me. Remember?"

I nodded. Jonathan stole a sideways glance at me and smirked. I dug my elbow into his ribs.

"Yeah, we remember you." He said.

He cocked his head at me, a questioning look in his eyes. "Do you… Speak? What's your name?"

"Her name's Clary Fray. I'm Jonathan. Her brother." Jonathan nodded at him. "And no, she doesn't talk."

He nodded. "Jace Wayland."

"SHE DOESN'T TALK BECAUSE SHE'S A LOSER, JACE! SHE DOESN'T TALK BECAUSE HER-"

My brother slapped Aline on the face. Her face turned red.

She shrieked in pain.

"Shut up, Aline." Golden boy, whose name was Jace, hissed at her.

Aline started screaming profanities at Jace and Jonathan, and she was dragged away by her friends.

I was standing stiffly, my hands balled into fists, knowing that Aline would spread filthy rumors about me. She had before. I felt a sick feeling in my stomach.

"Let's go, Clary. And I'll slap that little bitch into tomorrow if she does… those things ever again."

I finished putting my things into my locker. I turned around, my head lowered, and followed Jonathan to his locker.

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**Thanks so much for reading. :)**

**Review!**

**-Nicole**


	2. Chapter 2- Long Live Coldplay

**Wow. You guys are awesome. 5 reviews, 12 favorites and 21 follows for one chapter!**

**So I'm giving you an extra long chapter. :)x**

**Anyway, this is chapter 2. Hope you enjoy! **

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First lesson. English. I didn't enjoy school, my teachers didn't enjoy _me, _since I didn't talk. I'd never give in to them, trying to make me talk.

I didn't have this class with Jonathan, so I sat down at a random desk.

Great. A new teacher. She bustled in, setting her books and computer down.

"I'm really happy to teach you this year, students. I'm Ms. Herondale, your new English teacher. I would like to know you all better! Let's take attendance first."

"Helen Blackthorn."

"Here."

"Kaelie Fey."

"Here."

"Raphael Santiago."

"Here."

"Maureen Brown."

"Here."

"Clarissa Fray."

I raised my hand.

"Clarissa Fray?"

I raised my hand higher until Ms. Herondale looked up. "Clarissa."

I nodded, and ripped a piece of paper out from my notebook and wrote

_I prefer Clary, thanks_

And then I walked up to Ms. Herondale's desk and gave her the slip of paper. She read it and looked back up at me, handing me the slip back.

"Do you not speak, Clary?"

I nodded.

"Oh. I- see."

I nodded again and went back to my desk.

I doodled on my sketchbook for the rest of the lesson as she made start-of-the-year announcements. I scurried out of my classroom to avoid bumping into unpleasant people like Aline.

I walked into my next lesson. Jonathan wasn't in this one.

Jace was in my class, I noticed, and he had to push away girls that were fawning over him like puppies every 10 seconds. It irritated me.

His eyes seemed to follow me as I picked a desk at random and sat down. Jonathan wasn't in this class, either.

The teacher wasn't in yet, so I turned on the volume on my iPod.

"Viva La Vida?" Jace smiled down at me. "The song?"

I looked up at him. It was true. I was listening to the song Viva La Vida by Coldplay.

"I could hear it."

Hear it? Was I blasting it out that loud?

"It was pretty loud. In fact, the whole class would hear you." He gestured to the class with a wave of his hand.

It was true. People were staring and smirking.

I flushed red and shrugged, going back to my music.

"I love that song, you know. It's awesomely cool."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Have you listened to Atlas? It's by Coldplay too."

I grinned. That was an amazing song. I nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

"I know, right? I listen to it like, 24/7."

A girl then flounced over and put her hand onto Jace's back. A cold feeling registered in my stomach.

"What are you doing with the loser, Jacey?" She said, trailing her finger down his back. "Why aren't you with us?"

Wow, Jace's been in this school for an hour and girls are already all over him. Well, it wasn't surprising, for a someone like him.

Jace pushed her away. "Don't touch me, Helen. And don't call her that. Don't make fun of people when you barely even know them." He growled. Helen backed away.

I raised an eyebrow at him. _Why are you defending me?_

He shrugged. "It's just- I hate it when people make fun of others. Especially when they like Coldplay. Like me."

I couldn't help but grin wide.

o~O~o

I shut myself out from the world as I listened to music. Well, I actually was sitting in the caf with my brother, eating lunch. Jonathan didn't have a, well, let's say a _humorous _personality after my dad's death, and is cut off of any socialization or any friends. He usually sat with me. No one glanced our way, no one bothered with us. And we liked it that way.

So it surprised me when Jace and the siblings we saw earlier started walking our way and sat down at our table, across from us.

"Clary, my fellow Coldplay fan. And Jonathan?"

I nodded shyly, raising a questioning eyebrow at them and gesturing to the rest of the cafeteria.

"She's asking why you're not sitting somewhere else." Jonathan translated.

He pointed at a table, where the sluts were sitting. They were glaring our way.

I pretended not to notice, and continued eating my salad.

"How do you know she likes Coldplay, anyway?"

"She was listening to music and I happened to hear what she was listening to."

"Paradise?"

"No. It was Viva La Vida. Still, it was Coldplay."

I took out my earphones from my ear. I held up one finger to signal for them to wait a second. I then went to my photos on my iPod touch, and then scrolled and found the photo I was looking for.

Jonathan took a photo of me, a few weeks ago, when I bought a new Coldplay t-shirt. I was wearing it, a black t-shirt with COLDPLAY printed across the front and a picture of all the band members underneath the words. I held my iPod up so Jace and the siblings could see.

"I envy you." Jace muttered. "Lucky. Where'd you get that?"

"She bought it online from the store."

"I'm gonna buy one too." He grinned. "Anyway, these are my siblings, Isabelle and Alec Lightwood." He rolled his eyes. "I know, they don't look like me, they're my polar opposites."

He then struck a pose, like how guys would do in Abercrombie and Fitch ads. I laughed.

"This is Clary and Jonathan Fray, Izzy, Alec."

Isabelle extended her hand toward me. "I've heard alot about you from…. people."

I shrugged, looking up at the ceiling, as I shook her hand. Alec did too.

I was starting to like these three, especially Jace. He was able to crack me up and make me smile, unlike how others could.

"Who's your favorite band member?" Jace asked.

I scrolled through my photos so I could find the picture I was looking for, which is of Coldplay's lead singer, Chris Martin.

Jace grinned. "I like Will."

The day passed by, just like how school usually did last year. The teachers were infuriated by me, but as if I could care. The only teacher that was actually- _normal _was Ms. Herondale.

Before I knew it, I was walking home with Jonathan.

"See you tomorrow, Clary Coldplay girl." Jace said, catching me as I walked out of the school. Alec and Isabelle flashed me smiles, and I smiled back and nodded.

o~O~o

_When she was just a girl _

_She expected the world _

_But it flew away from her reach so _

_She ran away in her sleep _

_And dreamed of _

_Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise _

_Every time she closed her eyes _

_And dreams of_

_Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise _

_Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise _

_Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise._

"Clary! Jonathan! How was your first day?"

I grimaced, shrugging.

"Fine." Jonathan muttered.

"Were there any…." My mother fiddled with her hair, turning to me.

"Bullies?" Jonathan piped up.

I shook my head, lying. Oh, yeah, mom. There _weren't _any bullies.

Jonathan glanced at me. He knew there were bullies. There were probably going to be more tomorrow.

"Are you… sure?"

I nodded. Luke said something into my mother's ear which I couldn't quite catch, and she nodded and turned back to her dinner.

We talked about normal stuff like we would usually do. And then I went back into my room, listening to Coldplay, and writing and drawing on my diary.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today was my first day of my junior year. Aline is being a bitch, as usual, and I don't have all of my classes with Jonathan. I met this boy named Jace at school, and he's really cool and I have to mention- He's stunning. He also likes Coldplay. I'd love to get to know him more, but he already has girls all over him. Why would a popular jock guy want to know more about a freak like me?_

_With love, Clary_

I then got up from my chair, and walked out of my bedroom and knocked onto Jonathan's door.

"Yeah?" He asked, opening the door.

I typed in "Animal Shelter" into my notepad onto my iPod, and showed it to him.

"I'll come with you on Wednesday, maybe."

I nodded and gave him a wave before walking out of my apartment. I hailed a cab, showing him one of the notepads that had the words "Elodie's Animal Shelter" on it. The cabbie grunted and sped off of to the animal shelter.

o~O~o

"Clary!"

Elodie Verlac, the owner of Elodie's animal center pulled me into an embrace.

"Jonathan isn't here today. Will I see him soon?"

I nodded, walking over to the calendar and pointing to the date that was the day after tomorrow."

"Good, he's coming on Wednesday!"

I smiled and nodded.

"We have another young man coming to help us tomorrow. He's new in this city and his father is one of my friends, and we could certainly use some help. His father told him to come help and he accepted."

I shrugged. Okay. I didn't really like having other volunteers coming to help, since they'd totally think that I was a creepy silent weirdo and probably tell all their friends about me. Well, that was what happened last time and it wasn't a very pleasant experience.

"You're going to be cleaning out the hamster cages today, Clare. You up for it?"

I gave her a thumbs up, and she gave me and apron and some gloves to wear. I walked into where all the hamsters were kept, and I decided to start on a cage with a hamster with brown, black and white fur inside it.

I gingerly lifted the hamster out from the cage, which I decided to name Bob. I put Bob into a spare hamster ball and put the ball onto the counter. I then unclipped the base of the cage, and placed the base into a plastic bag, and tipped all the bedding out from the cage. I removed the toys, the water bottle and the food dish from the cage and cleaned them with warm water, and then I cleaned the whole cage. Then I filled the base with hamster bedding.

I then filled the food bowl with food and the bottle with water, and organized the accessories back into the cage, and clipped the base back onto the cage. I then put Bob back into his home and smiled.

I then repeated this process for quite a lot of times. You might think I'm insane, actually enjoying this stuff, but I do. I'm not really a typical sixteen-year-old girl, but I couldn't care less.

After about an hour and a half, I was done. I wiped my forehead with my hands and walked out of the door.

"Thank you so much, Clare. You're amazing, as usual. Here! Have a cookie!"

I took one of Elodie's double fudge chocolate chip cookies and finished it in less than 45 seconds, and I grinned at her. Elodie laughed.

I looked at my watch. It read 5:30. I pointed at the watch and at the door.

"You better get going, dear. Goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Elodie gave me a hug. I untied my apron, folded it and placed it on the counter. I waved at Elodie for goodbye and walked out the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow!"

I made an OK sign with my hand and grinned at her as I hailed a cab back home.

o~O~o

"How was the animal shelter today?"

I made an OK sign with my hand and typed "Helped clean out the hamster cages" into my iPod and showed it to my brother. He nodded. I typed "There's someone new coming to help tomorrow" into the notepad on my iPod.

"Oh, that sucks. I wish I could go there with you, but I've got tutor."

I nodded. I remembered, my brother had a maths tutor and pouted.

"I'll go with you on Wednesday."

I nodded and smiled, and went to the living room for dinner.

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**I will be updating Idris High soon, I hope, after I finish with the next chapter. **

**Thank you all soooooo much for reading. REVIEW!**

**-Nicole :)x**


	3. Chapter 3- Honey, Unicorns and Moby Dick

**Thanks guys. You all are so supportive.**

**This is chapter 3, hope you enjoy!**

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I slipped on my Coldplay t-shirt and red jeans that matched my hair for my second day of school, and did my red hair into a side braid. I had some sort of bubbling excitement in my heart. I wondered why. Was it because I knew I could see Jace soon?

I didn't know what the deal was with Jace. Why did he even talk to me yesterday, anyway? He had plenty of hot girls wrapped around his little finger, but he didn't seem interested in them.

I went to the living room for breakfast. Jonathan was eating cereal, so I gave my family nods for good morning. I spilled some cereal into my bowl and filled it with milk and I finished the breakfast.

I walked to school with Jonathan, listening to Proof by Coldplay.

_If I ever want proof_

_I find it in you_

_Yeah I honestly do_

_In you I find proof_

It sounded kind of sad, but I liked it anyway. I loved all the Coldplay songs. I found the band fascinating.

When we got to the entrance, I saw Jace. Yes, I saw Jace. Isabelle and Alec Lightwood were on either side of him, warding the people who were surrounding them and a bunch of giggling girls off.

Jace saw me, and his face lit up, and he flashed me a goofy grin. I saw Aline look over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in fury, and they narrowed themselves into eyes that looked they were about to kill.

I gulped. This girl wouldn't go down without a fight.

I stopped looking at Aline, and my brother had to drag me into the school since I didn't budge.

o~O~o

I put my head on the desk during third period since I was so bored. I would just close my eyes for 5 seconds…

"Clarissa Fray!"

Huh? I jumped up, looking wildly around. My teacher's face stared back at me and the class' laughter echoed in my ears.

"Shut _up!" _Someone hissed. It was my brother, of course.

"You are dismissed, class." My teacher told the class, and as the bell rang, they jumped up at the exact same time and made beelines for the door.

"I will not have you sleeping in class, Clarissa. Do that again and you'll have detention. You are now dismissed."

I rolled my eyes and followed Jonathan out the door. He grimaced.

"That was bad."

I shrugged and walked to my locker to get my books. As I approached the locker, I noticed a crowd of students surrounding it.

_Damn, _I thought. _This wouldn't be good._

Sure enough, an ugly poster had been taped up onto my locker. Me having green skin, tiny ears, warts, and a huge face and nose, I resembled nobody but Princess Fiona from _Shrek._

"Clary, tear it off. Let me do it." Jonathan said. I shook my head and tore it off myself.

Ugh. Aline Penhallow was so naive. I ripped the poster off of the locker door and ripped it into pieces, and tossed it into the bin. The kids stared in awe at how level-headed I am, and I couldn't resist smiling.

"You're amazing, you know, Clary. You're so calm. If that was me I'd have erupted." Jonathan said into my ear. I chuckled and nodded. He turned to the staring crowd.

"Move it, people. Show's over." He pointed to the hallway. "Out." Everyone walked away.

Someone appeared next to me. Jace. "I was about to tear it down myself, when you came strolling along so I sat back to watch."

I crossed my arms and stared listlessly at my locker. I then remembered about my t-shirt. I tapped on his shoulder and pointed at my tee.

He grinned. "I gotta buy one. Soon, I hope. Tell me what the website is?"

I typed "Later" into my iPod and showed it to him.

"Aw. Anyway, what's your next class?"

I showed him my schedule. Chemistry. He smiled.

"Good, we have it together."

"So do I!" Jonathan said.

The late bell rang so we sprinted down to the lab.

School was annoying. Aline kept bothering me in any way possible, so I was relieved to get home from school. Jace and Jonathan had pretty much guarded me from the sluts and their queen. Chemistry homework was also annoying, and I decided to do it AFTER I finish helping out at the animal shelter.

I waved to Jonathan as I decided to walk to the shelter instead of hailing a cab there. It only took about 15 minutes of walking from my school to there while my house took about 30. Not long, I reached the shelter.

"Clary! Good afternoon! How was your day?"

I shrugged.

"You'll be doing advertising today. Take photos of pets and post them onto our site."

I smiled. I love doing that.

"Oh, and the other volunteer, he's doing that too. Helping you out. He's in the cat room."

I nodded and grabbed a shirt with the word VOLUNTEER on it. Elodie assigned me to be in the cat room WITH the other guy, for some strange reason. I liked cats so, it was fine, I guess, but it would be a lot better if the other guy wasn't in there with me. Ugh.

I grabbed the camera from the counter. I walked to the cat room, and opened the door.

The boy was crouching, and he seemed to be taking a picture of one of the cats. I could see that he had blond hair.

He turned around and his eyes widened. "Clary?"

It was Jace.

My mouth opened in surprise and after 10 seconds, I regained my composure so I gave him a little wave and pointed to the word 'VOLUNTEER' on my shirt.

He smiled. "Camerawork?"

I nodded, raising my camera up so he could see.

"Cool. Me too. Although thank goodness, Elodie didn't assign me to work with the ducks. How clearly people underestimate them as adorable, harmless little creatures…." He fake shivered.

I laughed. But ducks were cute!

I walked over to where he was standing at. Behind him was an adorable scottish fold kitten with grey fur and blue eyes. I smiled and typed into my iPod.

_**His name is Brodie.**_

And then I held it up to show Jace. He shook his head and laughed. "Did you just name him?"

I nodded and typed into my iPod.

_**I have a habit of naming animals when I work with them in here. I've been visiting and helping this animal shelter for 2 years.**_

"Cool." he said. "Brodie's a great name."

I smiled and raised my camera up, aiming it at Brodie. And then I took the picture while he looked at the camera with his blue eyes.

I opened the door to the glass cage and took Brodie out, while he squirmed in my arms. I set him down so he ran around and played with the toys around the room.

Jace laughed. A gorgeous, rich sound I would have loved to hear again like how I would repeat the song Paradise on my iPod. I made a mental note about how I would record Jace's laugh the next time he did that.

I clicked onto the music on my iPod, and played Paradise on full volume. I didn't plug my earphones in, so music was blasting freely from my iPod and around the room. We literally danced around the room as we worked.

"You're one of the most hardcore people I've ever met, Clary. You're amazing."

I giggled and flushed, and Jace stared at me, a smile playing on his lips. We named and took pictures of more cats, and every time we would let them out after we were done with them. In less than 30 minutes, cats were running around the place, meowing and playing with toys. The bizarre thing was, none of them were fighting so I left them to be. I smiled.

There was this one black cat with dark eyes in particular that Jace named Isabelle. He said that she was as noisy and squirmy as the cat, since Isabelle the cat made a pretty big scene about how she would kick in Jace's arms and meow loudly and wouldn't stop if he wouldn't put her down.

"Go chase after the ball, Isabelle! Go!" Jace said in a high pitched voice. I laughed, and he turned to me, rolling his eyes.

"Exactly like Isabelle about how she would chase after some new makeup products in the mall. I have no idea why the hell I've went there with her."

I grinned, making a thumbs up sign with my hand. We played some yes or no games after that.

"Unicorn or pegasus?"

I smiled and held up one finger. One was for unicorn, two was for pegasus.

"Me too. Long live the unicorns."

I thought of a question and typed it into my notepad.

_**Sugar or Honey?**_

"Honey. Definitely honey. Sugar is just… _bleh."_

_**Me too! **_I typed into my notepad. _**I put honey in my coffee.**_

He raised his eyebrows. "That tastes amazing."

**_You've tried?_**

"Yeah, I loved it. I drank like 4 cups afterward, and I felt like hurling but I didn't. But I couldn't sleep at night so I had to read Moby Dick to fall asleep."

I giggled. _**You have a copy of Moby Dick?**_

"Yeah. Call me Ishmael. Some years ago-" He said, waving his hand, quoting the first two sentences from the book.

I laughed. I remembered that book. I had to read it for English last year, and I told Jace that on my iPod. He grinned.

_**I read it last year for English. I barely got to the second chapter and it had 635 pages. Oh well, that was such an epic fail.**_

Jace grinned. "I can relate to that."

I shrugged, smiling, as I flipped through the photos I took. They were adorable and I stopped scrolling at this cat I favored in particular. His name was Oreo, and he was white with black patches all over. He had green eyes.

"I like Astro better." Jace said.

I picked the white kittens Strawberry and Snowflake up and walked over to one of the glass cages so I could put them back in. I gathered about 5 small kittens up and put them inside the cage with Strawberry and Snowflake too. I then turned around to watch the other cats scampering around the place when something soft hit my face.

I immediately fell down onto the floor, and saw that it was Strawberry. The other cats immediately pounced, and I giggled as they attacked me all over.

I twisted around for help, but the cats were licking my face. I laughed and raised my hand for Jace to grab but he didn't take it. He stood there taking pictures, and he was laughing. Dammit, that sound. That amazing sound.

I gathered them into my arms, as Jace took one last photo of me. I then put them back into the cage, laughing. I then stood up and slapped Jace's arm playfully, as he smirked and showed me the photos he took.

I looked like a total klutz, grinning and holding the cats in my arms, my hair mussed.

My hands went to my hair and undid my braid and let it free. I looked at the clock to see it was 5:30.

"Aw, we have to go now." Jace said. "We were having the time of our lives."

I nodded, and walked out of the room. I peeled off my shirt and handed it to Elodie, while she treated us with cookies. She swooned at my kitten photos, and laughed as she saw what Jace took of me.

I then walked out of the shelter with Jace and gave him a wave as we stopped.

"Bye, Clary." He then gave me a loose hug which pretty much made my heartbeat quicken.

And then he turned around and walked away, and I did too, on top of the world.

o~O~o

* * *

**Stick with me to see what happens next!**

**-Nicole :)x**


	4. Chapter 4- Got Talent?

**Wow guys. Thank you you amazing people. Thanks so much for reading, following and favoriting.**

**You reviews are so sweet. There was this one in particular that cracked me up... xD**

**Anyway, this is chapter 4. And yes, I will pretty much update everyday.**

* * *

I slipped on a black t-shirt with a cracked white heart on it and dark blue jeans. I decided to let my wavy red hair down today, since I was pretty tired and had finished my chemistry homework at 12 am last night, since I spent the whole night thinking about what happened at the animal shelter and listening to Coldplay. I had filled Jonathan in about what happened yesterday.

I got to my locker and took my books out of it, and placed my diary sketchbook on top of the pile.

I was about to walk to my next class when someone brushed their arm across mine. It was Jace.

"Hey."

I smiled and nodded at him, and pulled out my schedule and gestured it to him.

"Oh, I've got drama next."

My schedule read _Drama. _Another class with Jace.

"Cool. Same class. Isabelle has it too. Where's the drama studio, anyway? Are you going to the shelter today? I am. And I think I've noticed that your locker is right across from mine."

I nodded. I was going to the animal shelter. I whipped out the map of the school to see it was at the end of the sunny corridor, where Jonathan's locker was located at.

I saw him, and his eyes stared at me and Jace chatting and laughing. He raised his eyebrows, and I shrugged my shoulders, giving him a lopsided smile.

"Oh, cool. I see your brother over there. Does he have drama with us?"

I shook my head. I had looked at my brother's schedule yesterday to find out that he didn't have drama with me.

The bell rang, and we walked over to the drama studio together. As I passed Jonathan, I playfully hit his arm. He smiled.

"I've now got math, see you at my locker." He said and I nodded.

The drama teacher, Ms. Belcourt, was okay. Again she gave me that look for my being silent, and she had questioned me about it, and I gave her the answer why. The weird thing was that she actually handled it pretty well, like how none of the other teachers (except for Ms. Herondale) did. She was nice to me.

"About Alicante's Got Talent, students." She said, smiling. 'The start-of-the-year talent show will be in a few weeks. If you're interested then you would have to write your name down onto the sign up sheet with your partner on the same line if you're performing with them. The sign-up-sheet will be stuck on the outside of this room starting from tomorrow. Don't be afraid to try and come out and do what you're best at!"

"We will perform in the hall with your parents, fellow students and teachers watching. There won't be any auditions it's just a perform-for-fun show and at the end there will be awards. You can sing, dance, play and instrument, tell jokes, do a little play, whatever talent you have, it's your time to shine! If you're interested, sign up tomorrow!"

Huh. The "start-of-the-year talent show." Never had that last year. Oh, well. I guess I'll have fun watching other students perform.

And then she assigned us to make up a play to perform in front of the class, in pairs of 3.

I immediately partnered up with Jace and Isabelle, and she spent the entire time talking, no, squealing- to us about how she was excited to perform in front of everyone in Alicante's got talent. She told us she would sing. "Everyone would scream hysterically after they hear me sing." She said dreamily.

"What song?" Jace immediately asked. "And Izzy, the audience would probably scream hysterically because their ears would be bleeding."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "I was thinking…."

Clary raised her eyebrows, whipped out her iPod and typed out

_**How about Paradise? Coldplay?**_

Isabelle chewed on her lip. "Is it a good song?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Isabelle. Have you never heard of it before?"

"Nope" She said, popping the 'p'.

"It's COLDPLAY! It's the legendary band me and Clary's been talking about for the past two _days!"_

"Sorry. I'll have to catch up on it a bit."

I grinned. I took out my earphones, plugged it into my iPod, and clicked on Paradise, and put the earphones into Isabelle's ears.

I smiled as Isabelle listened to the song. She smiled.

"It's great." She then tried to sing it. "_Para- Para- Paradise" _

"You sound… rather peculiar, Izzy. Try… clearing your throat and giving it another go." Jace said.

"Um, okay. _Para-_"

"Not too high pitched."

"_Para- Para-"_

"That's too low, Izzy."

"I give up! You're such an impossible person, Jace." Isabelle sighed in exasperation.

He smirked. "Look at her, Clary. Such a drama queen."

I rolled my eyes.

Isabelle turned to me. "How was it?"

I nodded and gave a thumbs up, pointing to the sign up sheet and gave a thumbs up again.

"Clary thinks I'm _good._ Not like _you, _Jace."

"Well, someone has to give a honest opinion, Iz. Clary was probably trying not to hurt your feelings."

"I doubt that." Isabelle said. "Were you?" She asked me.

I shook my head no, and folded my arms, looking at Jace. He smirked.

"Thanks, Clary. It's two against one, Accept defeat, Jace."

"Never."

I laughed and wished Jonathan was here with me so he could join in into our conversation. It would be three against one if he was.

We spent the rest of the lesson laughing and helping Isabelle practice Paradise, and at the last minute Isabelle had a crazy idea about Jace singing the chorus while she sang the pre-chorus.

"Seriously, Izzy. No way."

"Awww, come _on, _Jace.

"No."

"I'll not drag you to go shopping with me next time."

"No."

"I'll let you have all my dessert for the next 2 months."

"No."

"I'll play FIFA online with you for one whole week."

"No, and that's a crap game."

Finally, she leaned across the small space separating them and whispered into Jace's ear. I could see, that his face turned slightly pink after Isabelle drew away from him, a smirk plastered on her face. He didn't really seem the type of guy who blushed, so I was surprised. I wondered what Isabelle said to him that made him flush.

"So?" Isabelle said, her arms crossed, the smirk still on her face.

"Fine." He muttered.

"YAY!" And then she hugged Jace. "You smell, by the way."

"Seriously. It's my new lemon aftershave."

I and Isabelle laughed, and we all forgot about the task we were supposed to be working on for the past 30 minutes so when it was our turn to go up in front of the class to perform our play, Isabelle and Jace just made something up on the spot about a poisoned apple, a witch, and 2 innocent girls. Jace's witch impression was hilarious, which pretty much cracked the whole class up. Girls were staring at Jace dreamily, and I felt the bitterness again.

I met up with Jonathan at lunch, and talked about the talent show. Me, Jonathan and Alec agreed to help them out at lunch periods or sometimes we would try to go over to each others'.

I helped Izzy download the song into her iTunes, and soon enough she was listening to it all the time.

Me, Jonathan and Jace decided to walk over to the shelter together, and this time we were assigned advertising work again. This time, it was the birds.

"Are there any ducks?" Jace asked Elodie, his eyes wide.

"Ducks? Why, yes!"

"I'm not going anywhere near them."

"You don't like ducks?" Jonathan asked.

"No. They're really…. scary. Evil little creatures, they are."

I had to drag him into the bird room. Sure enough, there was a glass cage of ducks right in the middle of the room.

"Damn." Jace hissed, backing away from the cage.

"Do you have like, a fear of ducks?"

Jace nodded, stiff as he continued to back away to the corner of the room.

_**Calm down, Jace, they're not too bad!**_

I opened the cage door and scooped up a baby duckling and headed toward Jace. He stared at the duck in fear. Why was he this afraid? He didn't look like the type of guy who was afraid of any type of animal, let alone a duck.

I raised the duck up so it was staring at Jace's eyes. It then leaned forward and pecked him on the nose with its beak. He jumped back and screamed.

Yes, he _screamed. _I giggled and quickly snapped a picture with the camera. The little scream made him two times cuter than he was already.

"Really, I don't know what is between you and a duck, Jace. What's so bad about them?"

"They… They attacked me when I was-"

"What?!"

Giggling, I flipped to the photo of Jace and the duck and showed it to him.

"Delete it, Clary, or I swear I will…."

I cocked my head at him, smiling. _**That one was for last time. :)**_

"Oh no you don't. Delete it or I swear I will-"

I placed my hands on my hips and grinned. _**Yeah?**_

"She's really ticklish." Jonathan said, grinning. The boys then looked at each other, and then they both turned to me. _Uh oh._

I squealed with laughter as Jace dug his eyes into my sides, tickling me. They chased me around the room, laughing and shouting.

o~O~o

I gave Isabelle and Jace a smile for encouragement as they wrote their names onto the sign-up-sheet. Isabelle's eyes widened at the first names on the list.

_Aline Penhallow, Helen Blackthorn, Kaelie Fey, Seelie Queen. Dancing._

"It's them, Clary, Jace, Jonathan." She muttered. I groaned.

_**LOL Like those whores will win this whole thing. You're going to win, I'm absolutely and positively sure of it.**_

Isabelle gave me a smile. "Maybe, we never know."

_**We should practice today.**_

"Sure! Lunch?"

I nodded and turned to Jonathan with a questioning glance. He shrugged. "Sure, I'm okay."

I smiled. Izzy and Jace were surely going to nail this.

* * *

**YAY! They're in a talent show! :)x**

**I'm sorry if there are any third-person mistakes in here... I have a habit of writing in third person instead of first..**

**-Nicole xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5- Viva La Vida

**Hey. Thanks for 30 reviews and 2k views. Thanks sooo much!**

**I just watched City of Bones. Yeah people, I got the DVD. :DD**

**I really really enjoy reading your reviews. :)x This is chapter 5, enjoy! **

* * *

Isabelle was again, trying to sing the chorus during lunch. Isabelle seemed to me a song-lyrics-memorizing expert, since she spent one day at home listening to Paradise and seemed to have memorized all of the song.

"You're singing the pre-chorus, Iz. That's not _your _part."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and went back to singing

"When she was just a girl

She expected the world

But it flew away from her reach so

She ran away in her sleep

And dreamed of

Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise

Every time she closed her eyes

When she was just a girl

She expected the world

But it flew away from her reach

And the bullets catch in her teeth

Life goes on, it gets so heavy

The wheel breaks the butterfly

Every tear a waterfall

In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes

In the night the stormy night away she'd fly".

Izzy sounded great singing the pre-chorus, and Jace came in.

"And dreams of

Para-para-paradise

Para-para-paradise

Para-para-paradise

Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh

She'd dream of

Para-para-paradise

Para-para-paradise

Para-para-paradise

Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh"

Jonathan grinned. "Good job, Jace. Izzy, be a bit louder."

I smiled and applauded, typing into my iPod.

_**Y'ALL ARE NAILING IT! KEEP IT UP! When did she say it was? Oh, right. Next next Saturday.**_

"Do you and Jonathan want to come over to our house for rehearsal? Tomorrow, maybe? Or Saturday?" Isabelle asked.

"Sure." Jonathan said. "Are we free?" He turned to me. I smiled and nodded.

_**Should we use the karaoke version of the song or the normal version for it?**_

"Karaoke." Isabelle immediately replied. The karaoke version was the version of the song without the lyrics, or simply, just the tune.

I nodded and continued eating my salad. We had avoided the barfburgers.

"Hey, skanks and losers." Aline practically threw herself onto our table. "I've heard that you're in the talent show. Well, two of you, anyway. Let's bet. If you win, I'll ignore you for the rest of the year. If you lose, I get to go on a date with Jace and he will do whatever I say and I will fix Isabelle up with a blind date."

"Sure. Bring it on, Bitch. We're not cowards." Isabelle snapped.

"Alright, then." She said with a gathering malice. "Good luck."

And then she left.

"Wow. What the hell have we gotten ourselves into, guys?" Muttered Jace.

o~O~o

"Ew. Her hair looks like a bird's nest."

"Wow. Don't tell me that shirt was a giveaway for ordering McDonalds' happy meal."

"What happened to the pants? They're like, up _here."_

Aline and her skanks, or the princesses, Isabelle decided to call them, had a not-so-secret conversation about my appearance and my outfit. Seriously. Aline's previous words echoed in my mind. _If you lose, I get to go on a date with Jace and he will do whatever I say. _

I gritted my teeth.

"Clip, clop." They giggled about my shoes.

I tried to ignored them and continued walking, until their giggles and remarks about how I had lettuce caught in my teeth faded away. I hurried to my last period, where I had a class with Jonathan.

And then I went into the bathroom to check on my teeth.

o~O~o

I finished the last of the camerawork at the animal shelter, and went back home to do my homework and my diary. Today was Thursday, and tomorrow would be Friday, the last day of my first week of school. I was really looking forward to Friday.

I rubbed my eyes as I wrote onto my diary at 11pm.

_Dear Diary,_

_Jace and Izzy is now in the talent show. They're going to be singing my favorite song. I'm so excited for them!_

_Jace is adorable. He has this fear of ducks which makes him like, 5 times cuter._

_Love live Coldplay. School's not too good, but with my new friends and Jon, it's fine._

_With love, Clary_

Ugh. Stupid homework. Thank god I finally finished it.

o~O~o

"Alright. No. That's not working."

"What?" Asked Isabelle indignantly. "The karaoke's fine!"

"Not this one."

Isabelle rolled her eyes and flipped onto the other youtube Paradise karaoke video. "Stop being so picky, Jace."

I sat on Isabelle's bed, looking at her computer screen. We were at the Lightwoods' home, practicing for the talent show after a crazy day of school. Well, TGIF. My brother had a bag of nachos by his side, and he was sending them into his mouth.

"No." Jace muttered at the second one. "That one has a different pitch."

"Every single one has a different pitch, Jace. For copyright reasons."

"Just not this one!"

_**Let me pick. **_I typed into my iPod, and flipped onto the next video until I found the "perfect" one. The right pitch with lyrics to follow.

_**This one.**_

"Yeah, that one's good." Jonathan said through a mouthful of nachos.

"Whatever." Jace said, flipping it on. We weren't going to the shelter today, since we had practice so Jonathan called Elodie to tell her.

We were in Isabelle's bedroom, with a few bags of chips and cokes around the bed.

"Your turn, Isabelle." Jonathan said as Paradise without the lyrics blared from the computer.

"Um, okay. _When she was just a girl, she expected the world. But it flew away from her reach so, she ran away in her sleep-" _She sang.

"You're getting slightly better, Isabelle." Jonathan muttered.

"You guys should just say it. I can't sing."

_**No, you're fine. **_

Isabelle furrowed her eyebrows together. "Well, we have to win the damned bet otherwise we're going to be screwed."

"Yep. We have some work to do."

o~O~o

Isabelle gave me her number for texting. She had told me about how her voice had kind of improved. I was excited for 2 weeks later, since it would be the talent show. And to give Aline a showdown. Well, I was done with my first week.

I promised Jace that I would be at the shelter today, and Jonathan wouldn't be because he had guitar practice.

I hummed the tune Paradise as I dressed for the shelter. A white-and-black striped tee and black jeans. Yes, I was truly addicted to the song Paradise.

"Hey, Clary." Jace grinned at me as I walked into the shelter and grabbed a shirt.

I grinned back and gave him a little wave.

"Clary and Jace, today you'll be hanging at the backyard. Sweeping leaves up!"

I shrugged and smiled at Elodie and took the rake and the huge garbage bag. Jace fetched them too, and we walked out the back door to the backyard.

Leaves were scattered all over the grass, so we got to work. After a while, I felt a tap on the shoulder to see Jace facing me with a red leaf in his hand.

"Reminds me of you."

I smiled shyly, tugging on a red piece of hair. I then spotted a yellow one of the ground and placed it onto his head.

He grinned. "Golden, like an angel."

I smiled, shaking my head. Then I continued sweeping the leaves up into the bag until most of the grass was free from any fallen leaves.

I wiped my sweat away and sat down, leaning against a tree as I watched the puppies play on the grass. After a while, Jace came down to sit next to me.

_**Sing.**_

"Sing? Now?"

_**Yes.**_

Jace was good at singing, at least better than Isabelle. "I know how to play the piano."

_**Really? What grade?**_

"6." He grinned.

_**Cool.**_

I took out my sketchbook and color pencils and drew. I drew a nearby tree, shading the ground for the shadows.

Jace watched me draw. "It's beautiful. Where'd you learn to draw like that?"

I shrugged and smiled. _**I draw things or people I love. **_And then I flipped the diary back a few pages to a drawing of Jonathan.

Jace smiled.

o~O~o

Sunday was just plain boredom. I pretty much spent the whole day in a blanket watching Netflix and texting Isabelle. The Lightwoods and Jace were out celebrating their grandma's birthday in her house and in a fancy restaurant or something so they weren't really available.

"When's the exact date for the talent show?" Asked Jonathan.

_**Sept 21st. **_I typed.

"Good. It's next next Saturday. Two weeks."

_Two weeks until we show Aline up._

Jonathan nodded. "Maybe."

o~O~o

Ugh. I hate Mondays. I have always hated Mondays.

I dragged my butt out of bed and pushed my red hair back from my face, and drearily walked over to the bathroom.

I sipped on the cup of coffee until I felt more awake, and went to get dressed. I heard Jonathan arguing with my mother about how he had did his homework last night at 2 am and now he had dark circles under his eyes.

I rolled my eyes.

"She's such a pain in the ass sometimes." Jonathan grumbled as we walked out of the door and toward the school. "I mean, really, I lost track of time yesterday."

_**Doing?**_

"Watching movies." He muttered.

I smirked. _**Okay. **_I then saw Jace, Isabelle and Alec at the school entrance, starting to make their way in. I waved to them until Isabelle turned around, saw me and flashed a gigantic smile.

"Hey Clary!"

I didn't know when I started having new friends, started having people smiling and saying hi to me. Well, I'll have to viva la vida to the most.

* * *

**If you haven't, I highly recommend you to listen to Paradise. It's an amazing song! :)x**

**Please review if you can. I would love some feedback! **

**Thanks for reading. See you again tomorrow! **

**-Nicole :)x**


	6. Chapter 6- Not Feeling Okay

**My skype is blowing up from all the messages my friends are sending me. LOL I'm practicing the cup song..**

**I'm really sorry, this is a short chapter. **

**Anyway, this is chapter 6. Please enjoy. :)x**

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I walked into English with Jace. He would be at the animal shelter today, and after that he would go practice with Izzy.

Ms. Herondale handed out new books. _To Kill a Mockingbird. _The whole class groaned. I scanned the first few sentences of the book, and closed it.

I arranged another practice session at lunch with the crew. Isabelle, was, I had to say, getting better. She didn't have any pauses while singing the song any more.

The princesses and their leader gave me the stink eye but I shot it right back at them. Aline's glare intensified, and I grimaced and looked away. This wasn't a staring contest.

I wondered what the princesses were going to be doing in the talent show. Dancing, they said. I wondered if they were going to dance like strippers. A side of my lip curled up.

"Alright, Isabelle." Jace said. "Do your part."

"You know, I'm thinking about something. Like a little twist at the ending scene."

"What?"

"Like, maybe a shower of roses or something. Or- or- maybe glitter. Anything to make it interesting."

"Let's just do the roses."

Isabelle shrugged. "Okay. Do you think it's a good idea?" She asked, turning to us.

_**Sure. **_I typed into my iPod. Jonathan nodded and Alec followed suit.

"Great. Now the question is, where do we find around a hundred roses?"

o~O~o

"No. No. That rock, Clarissa! Put your foot on _that _rock!" My gym teacher called out from below me as I was prepared to step onto a red one.

Apparently, _that _rock was a blue one that was currently at my waist level. Seriously. How the hell was I going to step on _that? _

I scowled. How the hell did we get rock climbing for the first unit in gym class?

I cringed as I placed my foot onto the blue rock and heaved myself up on, placing my foot onto the rock that was near my left foot.

I had a stinky helmet on and a safety strap around my waist and my back. I finally climbed myself up to the top and pretty much moonwalked down the surface.

I whipped off my helmet once my feet touched the ground. Ugh. I was going to dread gym for the next two weeks.

We had a double period of gym, so when the bell rang, it was time to leave school. I decided to walk to the shelter with Jace.

"Do you think the roses idea is actually good? Do you think it might be a little corny?"

I shrugged. _**We can't let the princesses win this.**_

"I know but, the talent show. This is a talent show for fun."

_**Let's just cross the bridge when we come to it.**_

"Okay. Good point."

I was surprised when I saw a tall, willowy girl with brown hair tied up in a high ponytail and a sweatshirt with the word VOLUNTEER printed across the front of the shirt standing next to the counter as we walked into the shelter. She rolled her eyes and she sized me up. "Here to check out the pets?"

I shook my head and pointed to the stack of VOLUNTEER shirts on the counter. She was about to toss me one when her eyes landed onto Jace, her mouth fell open.

I clenched my jaw. Bitch.

"H-Hey." She stuttered.

Jace nodded at her and he pulled a shirt from the pile. "Here for volunteering too?"

"Yeah." She breathed, staring at him with wide, glazed eyes. She might even be drooling a bit. Yeah, everyone knew Jace was hot.

"I'm Jace, and this is my.. friend Clary." He gestured to me. She nodded and flashed a huge smile directed at Jace. "Lily."

"Do you know where Elodie is? We need to know if we're going to be continuing on the backyard work."

"Sure! Elodie is.. somewhere. You're going to be doing the backyard work. With me." She batted her eyelashes, her voice rising an octave. I rolled my eyes as I watched Lily's unsuccessful attempt at flirting, since the eyelash-batting looked like that someone had thrown a fistful of sand into her eyes.

Jace smiled. "Great."

I grabbed a rake and a garbage bag as I walked away from Lily and Jace. Ugh. Did he seriously not notice how fake that Lily girl was?

Okay, was I now… _jealous? _Nope. I didn't bring myself to believe it.

This time, I sweeped up all the leaves until there was this big mountain of brown, yellow, red and slightly green leaves at one of the corners of the yard. I walked over to it and jumped onto it, the pile of leaves fluttering everywhere. I laid on the ground, looking at the sky as Lily and Jace talked. Lily had a piece of brown hair curled around her finger, laughing and smiling while Jace had his hands casually stuck in his pockets. They had done nothing but talk for the past 30 minutes.

"Tomorrow at 5." I heard Lily say. Were they going on a date?

"Okay." Jace said, shrugging. Well, they surely were going on a date. I stuck my earphones into my ears, and clicked onto Princess of China by Coldplay, glaring at it as I tuned Lily and Jace out. I was stupid, wondering if he would ever actually like me. Why would he like me? He could get any girl in the world with glam looks and body.

I decided to close my eyes for a second while leaning on a tree trunk.

I didn't even hear Jace calling my name. "Clary. Clary. Earth to Clary."

I turned to him. _What?_

"We're gonna go now."

I rubbed my eyes and looked around for Lily. She wasn't here. Okay. Great.

I stood up, whipping my volunteer shirt off. Dragging the garbage bag with me, I walked into the door the led me into the shelter and tossed it into the bin, and threw the rake aside. Why was I so angry?

My iPod buzzed.

_**Pizza for dinner. -Jon**_

My brother sent me a text, and I replied immediately.

_**Okay. Be right back home. In the shelter.**_

I walked out the door, not waiting for Jace.

"Clary? Are you alright?"

I gave a nod.

"Clary."

_**I'm fine. See you tomorrow. **_

"Clary, what's wrong?"

I turned and walked down the street, the bitter feeling raging in my stomach.

* * *

**I hope you liked it. Don't worry, it isn't all what you think it is. **

**Thanks for reading. Please review!**

**-Nicole :)x**


	7. Chapter 7- We Were Infinite

**Thanks for reading this story. Sorry for not updating Idris High, I might update it tomorrow or on Sunday.**

**See you at the bottom!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMI**

* * *

"Clary? What happened?" Jace asked me as I walked into the school doors.

I shook my head, shrugging.

"Is this about yesterday?"

I shook my head, but my body froze, trying to think of an answer. _**Period Cramps. **_I typed into my iPod, because he wouldn't want to be hanging out with a loser that didn't talk.

"Oh, okay." He said. "So... You have…"

_**Chemistry. **_I typed into my iPod. I knew Jace didn't have the class with me so I turned around and walked away.

"Wait, Clary! Can I walk you there?"

I shook my head, making an OK sign with my hand. It was fine.

"Alright then, I'll see you at lunch."

I walked away and into chemistry.

o~O~o

I pretty much tried to avoid Jace today. I didn't really feel like seeing him, and Jace seemed to get the hint. He totally thinks that I have period cramps, so he left me alone for the whole day since he felt that I needed to be alone.

Well, at lunch I had to see him, since it was practice.

"You know, there's this florist downtown where I've seen quite a lot of roses. I might be going down there to buy roses soon."

I shrugged, continuing on my lunch.

"You seem down today, Clary. What's wrong?"

"Period cramps. Let's leave her alone for now." Jonathan said.

So everyone left me alone after that.

After school, I walked toward the animal shelter. Jace had disappeared out of last period when the bell rang, but not before turning around and giving me a smile and a wave.

_Yeah. To get ready for his date._ I thought bitterly.

I listened to my music as I entered the animal shelter. Elodie was standing next to the counter, smiling. Thank goodness. At least Lily wasn't there.

"Clary! Jace's in the backyard again."

_What? _I inclined my head toward her, confused. So no date?

"You're surprised to see him?"

I shrugged, and immediately grabbed a shirt and opened the door to the backyard. Jace was leaning against the tree we were sitting against earlier, apparently asleep. I looked at my watch. 4:45.

I walked over to him and shook his shoulder. He looked up.

"Hey, Clary. Are you fine now?"

I shrugged, cocking his head at him, confused.

"Huh?" He rubbed his eyes.

_**I thought you were on a date….?**_

"Date?" He asked me, confused.

_**With Lily?**_

"I'm not on a date with Lily… Wait. That's what you were upset about?"

I shook my head vigorously. Then I hung my head. _**Fine. I was.**_

"Lily?" He snorted. "I don't even like her. Not even a bit. She's so damn annoying. And she hates Coldplay. He thinks the band members are ugly and the music's crap. And she was talking about you."

_**Well why didn't you walk away from her yesterday? And what did she say yesterday? She told you to meet her today at 5!**_

"I wanted to listen to what she had to say. Like what she would say. And Clary, she was telling me the time when she would arrive here. Which is 5pm today. It wasn't when I would pick her up to go on a date."

I shrugged, looking back at my lap.

"I'm sorry, Clary. But you seriously believed that I was going on a date with someone as fake as her?" He started to laugh.

I shrugged, smiling. And then I started to laugh myself. Okay, so I was wrong about him not wanting to hang out with me. And I was kind of stupid about the whole thing, avoiding him today and coming up with a lame period cramp excuse.

"You're the awesomest girl I've ever met, Clary." He said, lying onto the grass. "Nothing compared to them."

I followed suit and stared up at the cloudless blue sky, sunlight shining onto my face, giggling. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

o~O~o

Lily had barged in a few minutes later, exactly at 5pm, and she beelined over to Jace, but he pretty much ignored her for the whole hour of hanging out in the backyard. He spent the time laughing and talking to me.

I had a weird fluttery, light feeling my my heart that I've never experienced before as I studied Jace's smiling face. I totally ignored the dirty looks Lily was giving me. Thank goodness she wasn't in my school.

"See you tomorrow, Clary." Jace said, turning the other way.

I smiled at the ground as I walked home, the tight band around my stomach I had been feeling for the past day and a half gone after knowing the truth.

Well, now I was looking forward to school more than anything. Weird, right? But I was pumped up to see Jace, Izzy and Alec again and practice for the show.

o~O~o

"Thought you had period cramps?" Jonathan asked me.

I had literally danced around the house after I was back from the animal shelter. I shrugged, smiling.

"Okay. It's gone." He muttered.

My iPod buzzed.

**Isabelle Lightwood: We're going to the florist tomorrow to make a deal. You coming? :D**

I grinned.

**Sure. See you! -Clary**

I then showed Jonathan my iPod. "Might be coming with you."

o~O~o

One thing I did not expect to see while walking into my school on a Wednesday morning were Aline Penhallow, Helen Blackthorn, Kaelie Fey and Seelie Queen dancing to the latest pop tunes blasting freely from a stereo. Right in the center of the hallway.

Like, _what the hell?_

A crowd was gathered around them, staring in awe as the princesses swayed and laughed along to the music.

"That's really impressive." Jace said, appearing next to me. "Not."

Jonathan chuckled. "Do you think they've lost their minds?"

I nodded, smirking, hand on my hips.

"Anyone can do better than that." Isabelle said.

"Magnus dances like that." Alec said dreamily, appearing next to Izzy. "When he was at home. Remember?"

"Oh yeah. Magnus."

I was about to ask who Magnus was when the principal's office' door opened and Mr. Starkweather, our principal marched out. His eyes bulged at the four girls dancing before him and the loud music blaring straight from the stereo. The crowd immediately scattered and the princesses were ordered into the office.

"Serves them right." Isabelle muttered, as we headed to drama.

""They were trying to show off."

"Well, no shit, Sherlock."

Jace grinned and we entered the studio.

"So I've heard that some of you are entering the talent show. I am extremely proud of you! Good luck." Ms. Belcourt said, looking and smiling directly at Isabelle and Jace.

And then she assigned us act out another play, but with a topic. I hated plays. I wouldn't speak, so plays are a bore for me. And apparently, drama class is all about plays.

I squinted at the sentence that Ms. Belcourt wrote onto the board.

_In groups of 3, act out a love story. Be creative._

"Love story." Isabelle said, a smirk played on her lips, staring intensely at Jace. "Awesome."

I rolled my eyes. _**You 2 are doing it.**_

"We're siblings, Clary. That might be a little awkward."

_**Well, I don't speak.**_

"It's fine. You're just gonna act it out and do whatever I say." She grinned.

"Alright, director Lightwood." Jace said in a bored voice. "Show us what to do."

"First. You two." She said, indicating me and Jace with a wave of her finger, "Will have to be in love."

I giggled nervously.

"Um, okay. Sure. I'm fine with it."

"And _then. _I will be the girl that is jealous of Clary."

I rolled my eyes.

"_And _I will be the one who tries to steal Jace away, but you prevent it."

_**Is this gonna be like, in a medieval setting or something so I can slit your throat?**_

Isabelle laughed. "Not funny."

"No, that would be awesome. Clary loves me so much that she's gonna slit your throat when you're trying to get me because I'm hers. I want it to be in a medieval kingdom. Because people back then didn't mind if you slit people's throats?"

"No, I don't think that's true. There was probably a law against that. Anyway, let's just do that. Do you have anything weaponlike so Clary can cut my throat?"

So we spent the next whole 30 minutes talking about cutting throats so we had to make everything up on the spot again.

"Um, I love you, Clary, you are uh, forever mine. Forever and always."

My heartbeat quickened. Well, that wasn't true. This was just a show.

But I played along, anyway. I leaned into him and his arms wrapped around my waist.

And then he kissed me. Well, on the forehead, anyway, but my face surged with heat and a tingling warmth stayed at the spot on my forehead where he kissed me a few seconds ago. I was pretty much in a daze for the next 10 minutes of the play, flouncing around the so-called "stage" in the drama studio, making things up and giggling.

The whole class cracked up when I slit Isabelle's throat, and Ms. Belcourt was beaming as we went back to our seats. When I saw our score, my heart lifted.

We actually got a 9. Not many people got 9s, but we actually did.

I smiled, feeling truly happy and proud of myself.

* * *

**"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." Quote from The perks of being a wallflower.**

**Thanks so much, KaitlinTheBadassGirlz, for giving me some amazing & hilarious suggestions, such as why Jace didn't like Lily. xD  
**

**Thanks for reading. Please review.**

**-Nicole**


	8. Chapter 8- 5 Dozen Lavender Roses

**Hi guys. This is pretty much the chapter where Clary and her friends go to the florist. Thanks for reviewing, reading, faving and following!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMI**

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As I was walking to fifth period, late, something pressed onto me from the back and had me pinned against the locker doors.

"Skank." Snarled Aline, as I twisted around, still in her grip.

Ugh. Skank. Say what? I made a look of exasperation on my face. She's such a hypocrite.

Too bad neither Jonathan, Jace, Izzy or Alec was in fifth period with me so nobody was walking with me, and I was late because I had to stay back at a class to see the teacher.

"You've seen my fabulous performance with my girls, haven't you. You and your friends don't have a chance. Soon Jace'll be on a date with me."

I rolled my eyes, pulling her hand away from my chest. And yeah, that performance turned out great. You ended up listening to a lecture in the principal's office.

"Lay off of Jace." She hissed between her teeth.

I almost laughed out loud. Didn't she know that Jace was unreachable? That he hated it when girls mold and twist themselves based on others' likings?

Ugh. Screw this. I've had enough of her.

So I twisted away from her grasp and walked away, with Aline screaming at me, really loudly down the hallway. I smiled. She might be listening to her second lecture of the day soon.

o~O~o

I walked into the cafeteria after fifth period and met my friends and brother at my usual table.

"All of us are coming to the florist. Including Magnus."

_**Who's Magnus?**_

"Oh. Right. Magnus. Sorry. Forgot to tell you. He's Alec's boyfriend."

I turned to Alec, whose face was pink.

"He dances like Aline." Jace muttered.

"Are you insulting him?"

"No, just…. clarifying."

"Speaking of Aline…." He turned in Aline's table's direction where the princesses were giving us the stink eye. But Aline wasn't there.

"Where's Aline?" Asked Jonathan.

I smirked. Probably in the principal's office getting suspended for the next 2 days.

"Dunno."

The next 2 hours went by pretty quickly. I had study hall with Jonathan, Izzy and Jace, so we spent the entire period giggling and throwing paper airplanes around the room. I know, I know, it's a bit immature. We got scolded by the teacher after that.

Isabelle led us to a florist a few streets away from the school. Standing beside the entrance was a rather… eccentric looking guy that looked about 18. He had dark hair with dyed rainbow tips and sprinklings of glitter, and the leather jacket he was wearing was decorated with multicolored rhinestones.

The first word that registered in my mind when I saw him was "Striking".

"Hello, Alec, dear." He said, drawing Alec close and planting a kiss onto his hair. He turned pink. "Hello, Isabelle, Jace. Who are they?"

His amber catlike eyes turned to me and Jonathan.

"They're our friends, Magnus. Clary and Jonathan."

Magnus nodded. "Alright, then. Let's go in. I know the owner."

He rang a bell that was hung on the door, and it opened up.

"Celine!"

Celine was a pretty, petite blond woman that looked about 20. "Hello, Magnus. These are your friends?"

"Yes, Celine. They're here to buy something."

"Um, actually to order something." Isabelle piped up.

"No problem!" Celine said, opening the white gate doors and letting them in.

I looked around the store in wonder. Flowers were everywhere, every kind of them imaginable. The interior of the store was beautiful. There was a chandelier dangling from the ceiling and the wallpaper were pale pink and blue. The entire place smelled of flowers. It was flower heaven.

I immediately walked over to a bunch of daisies, playing with the petals. I then tapped onto Jonathan's arm and pointed at one of the flowers. My dad's smiling, loving, laughing face was so vivid and fresh, and alive in my memory.

"Right." He said quietly. I saw Jace watching us with curiosity out of the corner of my eye.

I turned away from the daisies. Isabelle was standing over some red roses, admiring them. Jace seemed to be checking out some small purple flowers. I walked over to a rainbow of chrysanthemums. My gaze immediately fell onto the pale blue ones. They sure were beautiful. I was thinking of asking Isabelle to order these instead of her roses. I was about to walk over to Izzy when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"This is Clary Sage. The plant." He said, holding a bunch of the flowers he was looking at just now. "I bought them." And then he held them out to me, smiling. "For you."

I could feel my face immediately turned red, and I reached out and took them, not knowing that I had spent the next 2 minutes just standing there staring at him in awe. Well, his smiling mouth, anyway. If it haven't been for Jonathan, I swear I would have stood there the entire day staring at him. Well, the way he jolted me out from my trance was kinda embarrassing.

"Okay, lovebirds, enough with the staring contest!" He shouted into my ear, clapping his hands.

I twisted around, slapping on his arm. The word "lovebird" just made my face a million times hotter. He laughed.

"Come on, Isabelle just ordered 5 dozen lavender roses."

_**Lavender?**_

"Yes." He smiled. "They look and smell nice."

Isabelle walked over to us. "Roses have meanings. Different types of roses have different meanings." She grinned, glancing at Jace. "And the number of roses you give someone have meanings too." And then her gaze turned to the flower bunch in my hand. I blushed.

"We're gonna be picking the roses up at the afternoon of the day. And then we're gonna bring them home and will have to sort them out then."

"Good." Jace said.

We walked out of the door, saying thanks to Celine.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Isabelle, Alec and Jace called out.

I was disappointed to see Jace go, but I'd see him tomorrow. I gave a wave to Magnus and he returned it before stepping into a car and driving away.

I turn back to my flowers, admiring the small lavender and white petals. I smiled.

When I got home, I put them in a turquoise vase in my room, which made my entire room smell sweetly of flowers.

o~O~o

_His nose isn't that long._

_No, that's not right. It looks weird._

_Is his hair really that curly?_

"What are you drawing?" Jonathan asked.

I shifted my shoulder to show him a drawing of Jace, while swaying my head to Paradise. I was shading his face.

"Wow, that's good. You drew those cheekbones perfectly. And nice hair."

I shrugged, smiled, and went back to drawing his eyes and face, while inhaling the scent of Clary Sage.

* * *

**Remember how she said that she draws people or things she loves? :)x**

**Please review. Update will again be tomorrow. Thanks so much for reading!**

**-Nicole **


	9. Chapter 9- A Little Accident

**Thanks everyone for reviewing, favoriting and following.**

**This is chapter 9. Enjoy!**

* * *

"_Para- Para- Paradise" _Jace sang.

"Good. You're nailing it. We now have to practice this every day to give Aline a showdown. About the roses, what do we do with them?" Jonathan asked.

"I've figured out how." Isabelle said with a smile.

I arched an eyebrow at her. _How?_

"You'll see."

"You're supposed to be out on the stage singing, Iz. Not playing around with the roses."

"That's not gonna happen." She replied.

"What? What do you mean?" Jonathan asked.

"Nothing. You'll find out."

"You're being a little secretive today, Isabelle. Stop."

"Sorry, but my lips are sealed."

"Jace, do you know about this?" He turned to Jace.

"No." He shook his head. "But I have my ways of luring Isabelle."

"Nope." Isabelle shook her head. "Even if you tear down my Sorcerer's Apprentice poster. No."

"Come on, just tell us, Isabelle." Alec said, sighing in exasperation.

"No. Sorry." She pretended to zip her lips up.

"We'll make her soon." Jace smiled.

"Nope."

_**I'm gonna go buy a cookie. **_I typed out to them.

"Okay." Alec said and he went back to his conversation with Jonathan. I stood up and started walking to the counter, eyeing the plate of chocolate chip cookies. I took one from the plate, and reached into my pocket for my wallet to pay.

Well, I never noticed Aline standing at the counter too, a cup of this weird orangish yogurt stuff in her hand, which, apparently was called "Fruity Tutti" From the school menu. As I paid for the cookie, I felt something slimy and cold fall onto my back.

My hand immediately went to my shirt. It was, unsurprisingly, Fruity Tutti. Like who _does _that? Throw a disgusting yogurt-like drink at somebody's back while they weren't looking. And the stuff was starting to drip down onto my jeans.

Ew. Immediately I rushed over to where all the cups of Fruity Tutti was at. I picked one up and threw it toward Aline, where the stuff splattered onto her tank top.

Well suddenly the Fruity Tutti was flying around. We kept trying to coat each other in Fruity Tutti, push each other into it, and smear it at each other. We kept throwing the stuff around until I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my body and pull me away from the scene. It was probably Jonathan.

I looked around. It was pretty bad and the stuff was starting to stink. I looked at myself. The stuff was in my hair, on my clothes, in my shoes. Well, Aline's face was covered with Fruity Tutti, and she was desperately trying to wipe it away from her face but it was still smearing. I had to giggle.

"What were you thinking, Clary?" Jace asked angrily from behind.

He had pulled me away from Aline and the yogurt. I shrugged.

"Did you throw it at her?"

I shook my head and pointed at Aline, where the princesses were helping her mop up.

"This stuff is getting really old. I should talk to her." He said, his voice cold.

I looked around the cafeteria. Fruity Tutti was smeared everywhere. On the counter, on the floor, on the ceiling and even on the window. It looked pretty bad.

"For goodness sake, students. What happened?!" Mr. Starkweather bellowed as he took in the scene. Did he just appear out of nowhere?

"Well." Aline blinked, trying to look innocent. "I was just going to buy my lunch when _Ms. Fray _here started picking these things up and started throwing them at me-"

"LIAR!" Isabelle shouted at her. "No, Mr. Starkweather, Clary didn't, it was Aline. Clary was buying a cookie when-"

"Enough. I don't want to hear it. Ms. Fray and Ms. Penhallow, at my office, _now."_

I made an expression of disgust on my face. The stuff was starting to stink and dry on my clothes. My hair was going to be matted. And I didn't even have a chance to go to the toilet and clean myself up before entering Mr. Starkweather's pristine office.

"I hope you don't get suspended." Jace clutched on my arm, and I shook him free and followed Mr. Starkweather to his office, while Jonathan and Isabelle kept on telling the Princesses off in a very… _rich _vocabulary.

o~O~o

"Ms. Penhallow! It is your third time here in two days. What exactly is going on with you? Haven't the last two warnings been enough?"

Aline nodded, her head lowered. Mr. Starkweather had cleared up about the little Fruity Tutti accident and we were now into punishments.

"Therefore, you will have an in-school-suspension for 2 days."

"Okay, Mr. Starkweather. I'm sorry." She muttered.

"And you, Ms. Fray. Hm."

I fingered my iPod in my hand, which I had used for the past 30 minutes to communicate with Aline and Mr. Starkweather.

"You will be cleaning the cafeteria up."

_**Alone?**_

"With the help of the janitor."

I nodded.

"If any of this happens again, more action will be taken. I will now inform your parents. You are now dismissed."

I walked out of the office, a dark cloud hovering above my head.

Aline immediately went in the other direction of the hallway, and I walked into my next period.

o~O~o

The school janitor had pretty much ignored me while he cleaned the caf up. Well, this past hour would be bearable if someone was talking to me. Anyway, right now I should be at the shelter, helping to clean up! I haven't been there since Tuesday. And ugh. Lily might be there, flirting with Jace.

Jonathan had to go to guitar practice, and Jace was at the shelter.

I wiped the last orange spot from the counter until there were no traces of Fruity Tutti left lying around. I looked at the janitor.

"You can go now, Clarissa." He said.

I turned around, placing my cloth onto the counter. I then hurried out of my school.

I texted Jace as I walked home.

_**I'm done.**_

**Jace Wayland: Okay. I'm in the shelter. And Lily's around. I'm trying to ignore her. You coming?**

_**No, sorry, I'm 100 percent positive I'm grounded.**_

**Jace Wayland: Aw. What motivated you to do that, anyway?**

_**She threw it at me. I was so angry I decided to throw the stuff back at her. We can't lose her bet. We'll have to prove her wrong.**_

**Jace Wayland: Hope you don't get grounded that bad.**

_**Yeah. See you tomorrow, I guess.**_

**Jace Wayland: I'm gonna go now too, anyway. See you.**

_**Bye.**_

I walked into my house, where my mom, furious, was waiting for me.

o~O~o

Yep. I'm grounded.

Come back home before 4:30 pm. No watching TV, no going on the computer, no listening to Coldplay, no leaving the house after you come back from school and no texting on the phone for 3 days. 3 days. _3 days!_

3 days without Coldplay. 3 days without Netflix. 3 days without texting or any communication with the outside world.

Ugh. My hair still felt weird from all the gunk from yesterday. I touched it again. At least I was wearing clean clothes.

I was wearing a black t-shirt with the words "HATERS LOVE ME" in bold white lettering across the front, blue jeans and uggs. Yep. I felt like wearing uggs even though it was September.

As I walked out the door with Jonathan, with my mom calling "No longer than 5:30!", I decided to forget about the no listening to Coldplay rule and plugged in my earphones. I clicked onto Every Teardrop is a Waterfall by, of course, Coldplay.

"Is mom gonna see that?" Jonathan nudged me.

I shrugged and hummed along.

o~O~o

Two whole days without Aline. Well actually, 4. Her in school suspension would be continued on Monday.

The talent show was 9 days away. I couldn't wait.

I sat, being bored in D&T, or Design & Technology, as I listened to the teacher drone on and on about how we would use laser machines next week to work on making an American-themed watch. Like what?

Alec and Jonathan were in my class. They seemed to have perked up after hearing the words "laser-machine". How interesting could that be?

The teacher held up a clock the he had made. It was a blue clock with an acrylic-made American flag as the background.

"The laser machine is _extremely dangerous._ Please do not _stick your finger into the laser _or else your finger would be _gone."_

Yeah, like any of us would actually do that. Stick their finger into a laser.

Lunch was fine. Izzy, Alec, and Jace originally wanted to go out on Saturday night for a movie with us but after they found out that I was grounded, they decided to rent a movie and come over to our house to watch it there instead.

I smiled gratefully at them.

* * *

**Yay. Saturday movie night is on.**

**If you can, please drop a review, and tell me if I should include some chapters in Jace's POV. **

**Your help would be greatly appreciated. :)x**

**-Nicole**


	10. Chapter 10- Jace's Special Chapter

**Hi guys. Since a lot of you requested for Jace's POV, here it is! It's only one chapter though.**

**Yes, Jace is a little OOC in this story. He's sweeter.**

**Saturday movie night's on. :)x**

* * *

**Jace pov**

Something heavy landed onto my bed with a _thud._

"Rise and shine, Jacey!" Isabelle squeaked "Waffles are for breakfast and I will eat them all if you don't get up!"

I sat up, looking at my sister directly in the eye. "You _won't."_

"Oh yesh I will, Jonathan Christopher Wayland."

"Why wake me up so early, anyway? It's _Saturday!"_

"Sorry. I just felt like it. Now get up or no waffles."

Ugh. Why did my sister have to be so torturous? Like what kind of girl would wake their brother up at 7 am and then threaten to eat all of his breakfast if he didn't get up fast?

Oh well. That was Isabelle Lightwood for you.

I checked the clock. Well, it wasn't 7am. It was actually 11am. Oh well. I didn't care.

I changed into a shirt and walked into the living room, where Maryse and Robert, my adoptive parents were sitting on the couch, watching TV. Isabelle and Alec were helping themselves to waffles.

"Morning." I muttered and walked over to the table.

"Late." Isabelle said, her mouth full.

"Good morning, Jace." My parents replied. Alec grinned. "Sorry, Jace."

"What?" I then looked down at my plate to see that only one piece of waffle was left on it.

I fixed my siblings with a glare. "Really, guys?!"

Alec grinned. "You shouldn't come late next time."

"Yeah. Whatever." I grumbled and sat down, and ate the one remaining waffle.

"Picked out the movie yet? For Clary and Jonathan?"

Right. Today's the Saturday movie night. Isabelle, Alec and I would be spending a few hours at the Frays' watching movies. Being at the Frays' home at night _with _Clary made me nervous. I didn't usually get nervous, but this girl, in the past 2 weeks have made me blush. And got me nervous.

The first time I ever saw her, she was a fiery redhead wearing a purple t-shirt and jeans. She had the greenest eyes ever, shining red hair, a slight dusting of freckles on her nose and rosy lips. Her freckles made her look adorable. She was pretty, I had thought with a jolt.

She had her earphones plugged into her ears, swaying her head to the music.

I then had realised, that she had never talked for the entire time she was in Pinkberry. That was strange.

Clary was beautiful, and she didn't even know it.

I have been drawn closer and closer to her for these past 2 weeks. She was unhappy for some reason a few days ago, and that had gotten me worried. Then I found out the reason why was that she thought I was going out on a date with Lily. Was that a sign that she liked me?

I had thought about why she never talked for a lot of times. I kept on wondering, thinking about the possible reasons why.

"Jace! Jace! _Jace!" _Came my sister's annoying voice, immediately snapping me back to reality.

"What?"

"What movie should we bring?"

"I have no idea."

"What do they like to watch?"

"Um, horror movies?"

"Yeah. Maybe." Alec and Isabelle immediately went to the pile of movies we had and looked through.

"Um. We have, uh, World War Z, Chronicle, Human Centipede, Carrie, uh, Insidious 2, Dead Silence, Warm Bodies, The Last Exorcism Part 2, Taken, and Howard The Duck." Alec said, looking through the movies. Isabelle snorted with laughter at the last one.

"Definitely not the last one." I said shakily.

"You really need to get over this fear." Muttered Alec.

"Can't. The Frays like horror movies? Remember. Clary's grounded."

"Oh. Right. Clary's grounded. Is her mom even letting us come over, anyway?"

"She said she's allowed to have friends over but not out. And her mom's going out with her husband for their seventh anniversary or something."

"Good."

7 pm came soon enough. Before I knew it, we headed out of the house and into the car.

"Shotgun." Isabelle announced.

"Drive." I said.

"Damn." Muttered Alec.

Clary and Jonathan lived in the third floor of a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A short 15 minutes away from our house.

"Pretty." Murmured Isabelle as she walked up the staircase to Clary's house. She rang the doorbell.

Jonathan answered the door. "Hey, guys. Clary's in her room. She's probably listening to Coldplay or something. Clary!"

She came bounding out of her room and gave us a wave and a huge smile, and welcomed us in.

Their house had a modern feel. White ceiling and floor, white walls, a modern black-and-white chandelier with crystal lights hung from the ceiling. Paintings were everywhere. Of Brooklyn, of Clary, Jonathan and a man, and a round white table and chairs. The couch was soft black velvet, and a carpet sat in between the TV and the couch.

In other words, the house was pretty.

"You guys want to eat something?"

Isabelle shook. "No, it's fine. Later!"

_**What movies did you guys bring? **_Texted Clary.

Alec put the pile of movies onto the carpet as we sat down onto it.

Jonathan and Clary shifted through it. "Insidious 2… Chronicle…" He muttered, and finally pulled Human Centipede out from the pile.

That movie freaked Isabelle out after we watched it and she couldn't sleep for 2 nights.

Clary seemed to jump back from Jonathan's movie choice and clutched Taken to her chest. Yep. Taken was an interesting movie. It was a lot better than Howard the Duck. She seemed to notice it because she pulled it out, eyes dancing with amusement and laughed.

"I'd rather watch Chronicle." Alec muttered.

"Howard the Duck!" Isabelle grinned.

Clary shook her head and showed everyone the movie she had in her hands.

I shrugged. "I don't know. You guys should pick."

Clary smiled and starting to insert Taken into the slot thing.

"Hey, I wanna watch Chronicle!" Alec protested.

"Let her choose. I'd rather watch Taken then that." I said to Alec.

"Fine."

We turned off the lights to the house and started watching the movie.

So Taken is basically this movie where a guy lets his 17-year-old daughter travel alone with her 19-year-old friend to Paris. Then they get abducted by this Albanian trafficking gang and then the dad tries to save his daughter since he was a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operative or something. And then he does at the end. The things fathers would do for their children. They were amazing.

Clary, who was lying next to me seemed to have fallen asleep 25 minutes into the movie, and I decided to watch her instead. She looked so peaceful, a small smile on her face.

The dad's found a girl in a brothel wearing his daughter's jacket so he decided to save the girl and question her but not before fighting off the guards in the brothel. The fight was pretty good, a lot of loud gunshots and cars.

There was this particularly loud gunshot. Clary jolted awake, jumping up.

"Fight part." I said to her.

She nodded and rubbed her eyes and did something that probably surprised both of us. She laid her head onto my arm, and fell asleep once again.

This was probably the point where I should put my arm around her, so I did. She smiled and I then turned back to the movie.

When I got to the ship battle, where the dad jumps onto a ship to save his daughter. He killed all the guards and then shot the man in the head who took his daughter.

And then they arrived safely back to America.

"Wow." Jonathan said, finally breaking the silence. "That was great, although I've seen it a couple of times already."

Clary blinked and lifted her head up. I was disappointed, since warmth had radiated through my body when she touched me.

I checked the time. 8:30.

"When do we have to go again?"

"Before 9."

"Aw. So soon."

"Yeah, because our mom's going to be back at 9:15." Jonathan replied. Clary nodded and she stood up to go to the toilet.

"You guys can stay here or come to my room if you want. Alec, Jace, come to my room?"

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. I'm gonna stay here."

Alec nodded and left. Isabelle wasn't really paying attention to anything, so I stood up and walked into the room with a piece of paper that said **CLARY'S ROOM **on the door.

I know I shouldn't be in here, but I was curious about Clary. Really, really curious.

I picked up a photo of a miniature Clary and a man with white blond hair that resembled Jonathan next to her. The real Jonathan, who looked about 7 years old, was standing and grinning next to him. Clary had daisies in her hair, and she was laughing. They seemed to be playing in…. Central Park, maybe.

Drawings were sticked up all over the orange walls of her bedroom, including posters of Coldplay and photos of herself and her family. Her room was really different compared to the living room, with a shelf of books next to her white bedside table. Her bed was white, with red, orange and yellow cushions and a similar duvet patterned with owls.

I walked back to the photo of Clary's family and picked it up.

I felt a tap on my back and turned around. It was Clary, and she was holding out her iPod to me.

_**That was me, my dad and Jon when I was 6. He was 7.**_

"Your dad?"

_**Yes. And he's… Not here anymore.**_

"Not here? You mean…."

_**My mom is now with my stepfather. 7th anniversary. Do you want to know about my father?**_

"If you really want to talk about it, I'm not pushing you to talk about such a personal topic-"

_**No, it's fine. I can't keep it from you forever, anyway.**_

"Oh, okay, then."

_**He died when I was 8. Robbers in a store. I was going to buy something for my mom, and then they shot him because I couldn't keep my damn mouth shut. That's why I don't talk.**_

"I- I'm sorry, Clary." I couldn't imagine that happening to me. What if Robert was shot by some robbers because he was trying to protect me?

That would be a major trauma for Clary to go through. So I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her, and she rested her head onto my chest as she typed out a message.

_**Don't say sorry.**_

"It's-"

But then the doorbell rang to Clary's house. She stood up a little awkwardly and opened the door to her room, walking out into her living room.

* * *

**Next chapter will be Clary's POV again.**

**Thanks for reading, following, faving and reviewing.**

**Please review. Thank you.**

**-Nicole**


	11. Chapter 11- Anatidaephobia

**Hey everyone. Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was kinda busy.**

**Anyway, thanks for reviewing and all the positive comments! I'll might do more Jace POV in the future. :)x**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMI**

* * *

**Clary pov**

Wow. Today was great, I guess.

I thought about today as I watered the vase of Clary Sage.

Jace smelled like honey, sunlight and lemon, which was probably his aftershave that he talked about last week.

I didn't expect myself to actually put my head on his arm. Well, when the lights went off I had felt a bit tired, so…

I've melted when he hugged me. I found the warmth of those arms and his body comforting. Extremely comforting. The world had faded away and it was only him and myself in his embrace.

And then the damned doorbell rang.

Well, it was mom and Luke, back from their restaurant. My friends had to leave, and I felt the disappointment as Jace left again.

I'll probably see him soon, tomorrow, at the shelter. Oh right. I'm grounded.

Well, tomorrow, I guess, or I could convince mom to let me go to the shelter tomorrow since I've never visited since Tuesday. I was missing the backyard and all the animals.

I fell asleep on my bed, dreaming of Coldplay and Jace and the talent show and the shelter and everything that has been going on in my life right now.

o~O~o

_I opened my mouth to sing. There was no sound, only a dry puff of air escaping my lips. Jace looked at me in confusion as the music started. I opened my mouth to try again, but it was no use. I could try to scream and scream again but nothing would work. _

_And then Jace disappeared, the curtains closing. The chatter from the audience and the flashing lights faded away, but Paradise' tune kept on going._

_It was the ending and the roses were now supposed to come down on me. But instead of roses, black flowers with black stems rained down on me. They stung and burnt on contact, making my skin itch and sting. I scratched relentlessly at my face as I staggered around, opening my mouth to scream for help, trying to find my way out of there. I saw Aline and the princesses' faces staring, laughing sadistically at me as Jace stared at me, his face devoid of emotion. I kept on trying to reach him but he was on the other side._

_I opened my mouth to try and let out another scream again when-_

"Clary! Clary! Wake up!"

I sat up, rubbing my eyes to find Jonathan peering down at me. I raised my eyebrow.

"You were screaming out loud. I woke you up before mom or Luke could."

I shivered at the memory of my nightmare. What did it mean? It was the talent show. Why wasn't Isabelle singing? Why was it me? Why did I get such a bad dream?

"Nightmare?" Jonathan asked, curling his arm around my shoulders.

I nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head and turned to the clock. 5:59 am.

I spent the next 5 hours listening to music, going on my laptop, Jonathan's arm still around me and sipping on a cup of honey.

o~O~o

"Mom, Clary wants to go to the shelter today. Don't worry, I'll bring her home two hours later."

Mom inclined her head towards us. "No, Clary's grounded."

_**But I haven't been there since Tuesday and Elodie might need some help!**_

Well, I didn't tell her the reason why I actually really wanted to go there was because I really wanted to see a boy from school I met 2 weeks ago that I might be falling in love with.

Mom sighed, placing her hands on her hips. "Alright, then. But no more than an hour and thirty minutes. Jonathan, go with her."

I thanked her through my iPod and went back into my room to grab a stuffed duck toy. I had no idea why, but I had a feeling that we'd have fun with it.

I smiled gratefully at my brother as we hailed a cab down to the shelter, arriving at the entrance.

_**There's a girl named Lily in there, probably. She was flirting with Jace and she's a bitch. Like a lot of the others. We all ignore her.**_

Jonathan nodded, and Elodie gave us hugs.

"Where did you kids go? I haven't seen you since last week, Jonathan! And since Tuesday, Clary!"

"Sorry, we were kind of- Uh, busy. With school and some errands to run after school." Jonathan said.

"Alright, then, that doesn't matter. You're here now! Jace hasn't arrived yet. He will soon. You up for some office work?"

I smiled, but I was wishing for backyard work. Well, office was okay too, I guess. What about Lily? Where was she? As I finished slipping on a volunteer shirt, I asked Elodie through my iPod.

"Oh, she isn't here. I don't think she's coming anymore, for some strange reason."

I cocked my head. Weird. Maybe she only stuck around for Jace and when he said he wasn't interested, she just left.

Yeah, that was the most possible option. At least Lily was gone.

We entered the shelter's office, walking over to the desk and sitting onto the chair. For office work, we basically make phone calls or write down notes about who was going to come pick up some animals or whatever, and check the site on the computer.

Jonathan flipped open the notebook where Elodie kept all her phone calls to make, while I logged on to her computer to look at the website.

I checked on the photos of Brodie and Astro and all the photos of the cats Jace and I took.

On Brodie's photo were a few comments like "Cute, I would love to adopt him" And yeah. I flipped open the notebook to check on Elodie's notes.

**CATS**

**Brodie [Scottish fold, grey with blue eyes]- Adopted, phone adopter today for her to come and adopt. 11:30**

**Oreo [White with black patches]- None yet**

**Astro [Grey kitten with green eyes]- None yet**

I smiled sadly. Brodie was going to be adopted, but Oreo wasn't going to be yet.

**Isabelle [Black kitten with dark eyes]- Adopted, adopter will come on Monday.**

I grinned. So Isabelle the cat was going to be adopted.

Jonathan talked on the phone.

"Okay, sure. You'll come right now to pick Brodie up, right. Absolutely. Good. Alright. See you."

_**It's the adopter right? I'm sad Brodie's leaving.**_

The door swung open and Jace walked in.

"Good. You're all making phone calls?"

I nodded, smiling, handing him Elodie's notes.

"_Isabelle's _adopted?!"

I nodded, shrugging.

"Weird."

"Thank goodness we were not assigned _duck _work today."

"Why are you afraid of them, anyway?" Asked Jonathan, turning back from reading the notebook and to Jace.

"I'd rather not talk about it. I'll tell you soon. I hope…"

"You know, there's a fear called Anatidaephobia. It's actually the fear that you are being watched by a duck."

With that, I snorted.

"I have both the fear of ducks, whatever that is, and Anatidaephobia, who knows, a duck _might _be."

"You know, I think it's true. There _is _a duck watching you."

"Wha-" He was cut off by seeing the stuffed duck I had sneakily put on the desk. It was sitting and was yellow with an orange beak, and its small dark eyes were staring directly at Jace.

He let out a little yelp, and then he decided to express his anger by grabbing the stuffed toy and ripping the poor duck's head from its body, and then pulling all the cotton out from both the duck's body and head, and then stomping on what remained of the duck.

Poor stuffed toy. That cost $2, but well, it was still a toy. Jonathan and I literally cried with laughter.

"Why do you guys have to keep torturing me like that?" Wailed Jace like a 5-year-old.

_**Sorry. **_I grinned. _**It's just too funny.**_

Jace rolled his eyes and picked up the limp piece of yellow cloth on the floor. "Hope this wasn't expensive."

I smirked, shaking my head as Jace wrinkled his nose, which made him look cute, and threw the duck into the bin.

We did more office work after that, and then went home.

o~O~o

The new school week came soon enough. I couldn't wait for Saturday.

And today I was officially ungrounded.

I got dressed in a yellow shirt with the words "VIVA LA VIDA" on it and green jeans, and black converses, smiling all the way. I was so happy that I was ungrounded, although it was only 3 days.

"Hey, Clary." Jace sauntered over, a smile on his face.

I gave him a grin as the table of annoying girls stared daggers at me. Thank goodness Aline Penhallow wasn't here today.

"Up for lunch practice? Or do we still have to practice?"

I nodded. Was Izzy done with roses deal yet? Has she like, confirmed it? How would she pull it off? She was going to make it rain onto herself and Jace on the stage.

I was on the third page of _To Kill a Mockingbird, _and I was pretty sure that the others weren't making any progress.

I sighed, and closed my book.

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**School's off tomorrow. Yay. Catching Fire & hanging out with my friends!**

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, faving & following!**

**-Nicole**


	12. Chapter 12- Rock Climbing

**A/N: Whew. I'm finally done with a gymnastics routine we have to do in gym class. LOL I'm pretty sure I failed it..**

**And my next unit, apparently, is Health and Nutrition. Lol..**

**I have yet another French test again on Monday. I hope I get a decent grade. Anyway, thanks for following and reviewing. ****See you at the bottom. Enjoy!**

* * *

Well, I was surprised when people actually acknowledged and congratulated me when I walked through the hallways. They went all

"Congratulations, Clary! You showed the slut queen up big time!"

"How did you do that?!"

"You're cool, Clary. I would have never, in a thousand years, have the guts to do that."

I was extremely surprised, and Jonathan smiled like the proud big brother he was. Jace grinned.

"Badass Clary, you're on."

Haha. I liked the sound of that. Badass Clary. Well, let's see how badass I can actually be.

During lunch, the princesses' table kept giving us dirty looks, as usual. Isabelle looked like she was going to walk over there, grab Helen Blackthorn's $150 Vera Bradley bag and whack her straight on the face.

Ugh. It was the third week of rock climbing. At least next week we wouldn't have it anymore!

Gym was one of the lessons where none of my friends were in. Jonathan didn't have too many classes with me this year, and it was sad.

I cringed at the black head protection helmet I had in my hands. Was it just me, or did the helmet smell like rotten eggs?

"Put on the helmet, Clarissa! You're up in 3!"

Right. I'm up in 3 people. I scowled, placing the helmet onto my head and tightened the cords. Ugh. I loosened the safety straps I had on that were literally squeezing my stomach into 2. Today was actually the rock climbing assessment that I was pretty sure I would be fine in, since I didn't really have any problems rock climbing last week.

I smiled in satisfaction at my really loose straps. I watched Sebastian Verlac moonwalk down the surface. Ugh. I was up in 2 now.

"This is a teacher's note, Ms. Nightshade." I heard someone say behind me. It was Jace's voice, so I turned around. It certainly was Jace. He handed Ms. Nightshade something and flashed me a smile.

"Very well then. You may go join the line." Ms Nightshade muttered, gesturing to the line I was in. He came to stand next to me.

"Hey. I'm here because I missed my gym period last week. So I have to do my assessment today."

I cocked my eyebrow. Then I shrugged. I was more than happy that Jace was going to be here, enduring the torture of rock climbing and gym class with me.

"So. Your doing the assessment, huh? Not bad, I guess."

Not bad? I mouthed the words at him and giggled. I had left my iPod back in my locker because it was gym class so yeah.

"I know how to rock climb. You?"

I shrugged. Kind of.

"You actually look kinda cute with that gear on." He poked my nose.

Really? No. I didn't believe him as I grinned and pulled away his wrist.

And cute. He just called me cute, I thought, as I touched my nose.

I was up in... 0 people. Jace gave me a smile for encouragement. I swallowed, looking up at the rock climbing wall and the rainbow of rocks.

Well, I've done this before. But it required a lot of effort and strength to do so.

I gulped and stepped onto the blue gym mats. I started up. Before I knew it, I was at the top. I twisted around, grinning at Jace. I prepared to start moonwalking down the wall when I felt myself falling. Yes, _falling. _

What was happening? A second ago I was preparing to walk down the wall, and the next second I was falling. Without any straps or anything except for my helmet. I then realized that I had probably loosened the safety straps a bit too much. Way too much.

So in a second I was probably going to hit the hard, cold, unwelcoming gym floor and broke my neck.

Well, instead of hitting solid ground, I fell into someone. My first thought was- _Ms. Nightshade. _Well, the person I was on, sprawled on the ground was actually Jace, and definitely not my gym teacher.

His arms were around me, just like how they were on Saturday. Being sprawled up on top of him just made my heart beat faster. I could smell the sweet scent of lemon and honey mixed together again as I breathed into his neck. I had this strange urge to kiss him as I pondered about if I was actually allowed to kiss someone in front of at least twenty students and a strict gym teacher. Jace sat up, with me in his lap.

"You okay?" He breathed.

I nodded, wanting to stay there longer but then I was ripped away from his body in a second by my gym teacher.

The impact hitting the gro- Jace's body, had actually made myself kind of dizzy. Ms. Nightshade sent me to the nurse's office to rest for a while, accompanied by Jace. He kept his arm curled around me. The last thought I had before I fell asleep on the bed was that I knew I had failed this stupid rock climbing assessment.

o~O~o

"Clary! Clary! Are you alright?!" Jonathan called worriedly as I opened my eyes. I was in the nurse's office. With Jace. And now Jonathan.

I rubbed my eyes. Yeah, I was. The headache was completely gone. I checked the time. It was time to go home.

"Thanks for taking care of her." Jonathan turned to the nurse. She nodded.

"And Jace, thanks for staying with her."

Jace smiled. "Hey, she's more important than a stinking gym assessment."

I smiled. As a way of expressing my thanks, I gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Are you going to go to the animal shelter today?" Jonathan asked.

I shook my head. I didn't want my stupid headache to come back again so I decided to stay at home.

Well. Who told myself to loosen those straps so much that I couldn't hang out with Jace and the animals?

I spent the whole night doing my stupid rock climbing report which was 20 percent of my grade. Well. I'd fail it anyway, but I didn't want to get a 0.

o~O~o

I arrived at school the next day, feeling perfectly fine but was in a worse mood than usual.

I wanted to stay at home, but today we had drama, which was something I enjoyed. So I literally forced my butt out of bed.

I spent the first two periods trying not to fall asleep, my eyebrows knitted together in a scowl. Jace came over, touched my arm and asked me if I was okay but I blew him off with an excuse about me being tired.

Well, I've certainly brightened up during drama as I looked at the piece of writing on the board.

_Please write a monologue pretending to be your polar opposite. For example, if you are a "preppy" person, then you might want to consider being goth and emo in your monologue. After that, you will come to drama next week dressed up as that character and speak out your monologue in front of the class._

Speak. Speak? Well, maybe she'd allow me to only, like, present it or something.

"This is going to be easy for me." Jace grinned. "I'll be a nerd."

I laughed. Honestly, I didn't know what I was going to be. I could be a really girly girl or something.

Or an athlete. I barely did any sports, so I could be a sports girl.

Yeah. I'd stick with that. It was a good idea. I didn't really want to cake my face in makeup so I wrote down _Athletic girl _onto the piece of paper and showed it to Jace and Izzy.

"Nice idea." Izzy nodded in approval.

I started writing my monologue.

_Clary: Hello. I am a person who adores playing sports, a girl who adores playing sports. Or a female athlete. _

_(Clary dribbles basketball on the floor)_

_Clary: I like playing any type of sports. Soccer, basketball, badminton, netball, tennis, table tennis, any type of sports. I will excel in anything._

I continued on my monologue, just like that, until the end of third period.

o~O~o

"I've got Magnus to help out with the roses." Izzy said while taking a bite out from her granola bar. "He's going to make it work. Don't worry, you all, I have all this sorted out."

"Magnus?" Alec perked up. "You've been talking to him? When?"

"Oh, when he was around." Izzy waved a hand at him. "You can ask him about it if you want."

Alec nodded and resumed to his lunch.

I wondered how Magnus would pull this off for the remainder of the day, as I did more office work with Jace in the animal shelter.

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**The epilogue for Idris High will be uploaded in, let's say, a week's time?**

**Thank you for reading. **

**-Nicole**


	13. Chapter 13- Days Before The Show

**A/N: Hey. Thanks to you all who reviewed, favorited, followed and all that stuff. Forgot to say, Catching Fire was amazing. I'm really pumped up for mockingjay, although that would be in a year... :(**

**Anyway, this is chapter 13. The talent show, I'm sure, will be next chapter. Anyway, please enjoy! See you at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMI. Dreams don't always come true. xc**

* * *

Fifth period chemistry, was as usual, boring. Ms. Carstairs would say a bunch of meaningless words that would last about 30 minutes and then talk about our homework for the next 20 minutes. As usual, she gave us a shitload of homework.

I eyed the stack of papers and exercise books on my desk warily. Well, looks like I would have to stay up until 12 am again to finish this.

I sighed as I put my homework into my tote bag and scurried out of the classroom.

I then walked into freaking D&T. It sucked that I had a double period of this. Jonathan and Alec were sitting next to each other, talking. My brother saw me and waved me over.

"Hey." He said. "Are you up for some _clock making?"_

Frankly, I wasn't. So I shook my head.

The teacher told us to start designing the acrylic part of the clock, which was basically drawing it up. I drew the American flag and erased a section of it which was where I would insert the clock into. I finished sketching the flag in about 5 minutes, and started adding colors in.

"Very nice, Clarissa." Mr. Branwell smiled as he stood over me. "I like your drawing."

I smiled and nodded, pretending to be enthusiastic. We were supposed to write a report after designing the clock and send it to Mr. Branwell by email.

Another report. Damn.

I slipped the first draft of my clock into one of my notebooks and walked out of the D&T classroom, and headed straight for the animal shelter.

I slipped on a shirt. I was assigned backyard work today. Jace was probably in the backyard. I smiled, thinking of last week, but he wasn't there. Yet, I hoped.

There were now more leaves on the ground so I started to clean it up without anyone's help.

Jace didn't come in for the entire hour and a half. So I got home all by myself and started to do my chemistry homework. I finished it in 2 hours.

It was 7pm by the time it was done. 8pm was dinner, so I spent the next hour finishing my D&T report on the computer. Then I sent it to Mr. Branwell.

Thursday came soon enough. We had arranged a practice again at the Lightwoods'. And today was officially the one week anniversary of the Fruity Tutti accident.

My friends 'celebrated' it by all buying me cookies. So when I got to them, 4 cookies were sitting on the table, waiting for me.

I laughed, then realizing that it had been 4 days and Aline never, well, let's say did anything to any of us. I wondered if she was secretly plotting up some evil plan that was going to be revealed on Friday. or Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, the talent show was in 2 days! I couldn't be more excited.

Izzy and Jace couldn't be more prepared for the talent show. I grinned as they sang the song again and again, until it was still echoing in my ears when I went back home. As we ate dinner, mom came to stand up and stand beside my chair. She stood there for more than 5 minutes, until I texted to ask her to see if she was okay.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. honey. But I was thinking if we could have a family night today, we haven't had one for ages!"

I rolled my eyes. The last time we had a "Family night" was 2 years ago, when I was 14 and we watched Star freaking Trek on TV. It was so boring that a quarter through the movie I fell asleep.

"Mom, we're not going to watch another lame flick again, are we?" Jonathan muttered through a mouthful of food. "Do we even _have _to? I'm sure me and Clary are getting a bit too old for Family Night."

"Nonsense." Muttered mom, turning her head away from us. "A family is forever."

Forever. Right. But what did forever have to do with lying on a blanket in our backyard and gazing wistfully up at the stars?

I rolled my eyes as mom and Luke started pointing out the stars to us. We weren't the least bit interested, and it was pretty dark out here, so I decided to fall asleep. Every "Family Night" I seemed to fall asleep at some point. It could actually be funny if you think about it.

I had a very weird dream. Stuffed toy ducks kept on insisting that I join Family Night that was rock climbing. And then I started to fall down off of the surface, which reached up through the sky and into space, and when I fell, there was no Jace anywhere to catch me. Instead I kept falling, reaching nowhere near a ground.

And then I woke up with a start to find that we were in our backyard. No one was anywhere. Hmph. My family was probably back home now.

I trudged back home, took a shower, immediately falling asleep and hoping that no weird dreams were going to haunt me tonight, with Paradise echoing over and over again in my ears.

o~O~o

Today was Friday. Or the eve of the talent show. Everybody was buzzing about the show at school, squealing excitedly and chattering loudly about it.

Aline flashed everyone teethy smiles as she and her friends paraded into the school. They parted like the red sea to let her walk through the hallways.

She glowered at me as she passed me. I shrugged. Whatever.

"I'm psyched about the show, although a little nervous." Isabelle said as she ate her lunch.

"Nervous? You're never nervous about anything." Jace replied.

"Are _you?"_

"No." Although he sounded like he was.

Isabelle grinned from ear to ear and then she whispered something in his ear again. Again, his cheeks turned pink and he smacked Isabelle on the shoulder. What?

I raised a questioning eyebrow at them. Isabelle shook her head.

"Nothing, Clary." She batted her hand at me. "It's just a little question."

About what? I was about to ask her when two girls stopped at our table to wish Jace luck. They actually tried to do more than wish Jace luck. I shot them daggers as the first girl leaned closer to him, trying to act seductive.

Isabelle warded them away as Jace backed away, a look of horror on his face. Izzy rolled her eyes.

"Just the occasional girl who tries to suck his face off."

Right. Sometimes I actually did forget how attractive and smoking hot Jace was.

I sat there, not communicating with anyone for the rest of the lunch hour.

o~O~o

Nobody concentrated during maths. Well, nobody seemed to usually concentrate on maths, but this time, everybody was talking to each other about the talent show tomorrow instead of listening to the teacher.

So it wasn't a surprise when the teacher snapped. Hey, they should be proud that the talent show was so successful that the whole school was buzzing, texting and chatting to each other about it, pumped up about the show. Because I was actually expecting everyone to ignore it and only 10 people would come to watch.

Well, seemed like the whole school was coming to watch it. I smiled.

Isabelle insisted that she see my wardrobe after school to check on what I would be wearing for the show. I told her by text that I would wear a plain t-shirt and jeans, since I was happy about it. But no! Right after she checked on my wardrobe, she insisted that she went dress shopping with me to find a "decent outfit" for me to wear.

Well, we stopped at 5 boutiques at the mall and none were good for me. But then at the last one, I spotted an adorable, flowy emerald green chiffon dress with a gold belt tied around the waist. It went a little more than mid-thigh, and it was perfect and simple, although I had never really wore a dress before, so I wasn't really used to it. But Isabelle told me to buy it anyway, because it looked great on me.

She had already bought a beautiful silver dress decorated with rhinestones, and she, as usual, looked amazing. Isabelle was so pretty, I envied her sometimes.

I set the shopping bag down onto my bed and smiled, thinking about tomorrow. It would be amazing, even though Aline would be in our way.

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**All hail Isabelle Lightwood, the fashion queen. Lol. My French assessment's tomorrow... q-q**

**Jace might reveal what Izzy said next chapter. Yeah.**

**Anyway, please tell me if I should start a TMI story, again with its characters, based on a fairy tale. Or of shadowhunters. We'll see, I guess.**

**Please review! The next update might be tomorrow or the day after. :)x Until next time!**

**-Nicole**


	14. Chapter 14- Those Stars

**A/N: Sorry for not updating. Was busy for the past few days. I have another test on Friday.. **

**Anyway, this is the longest chapter in this story. I think. This will be the talent show. :D **

**See you at the bottom y'all!**

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I got dressed in the green dress nervously that night. I had decided to meet Isabelle, Jace and Alec at their house.

We arrived in the Lightwoods' home again, butterflies dancing around in my stomach. I couldn't believe that this very day was already here, and I had completed 3 weeks of my junior year.

And Jace and Isabelle would be singing on stage. Our favorite song.

I tugged self-consciously on my green dress as the door opened to their house, and out came Isabelle.

"Clary! You look great! Like always!"

I grinned. Isabelle's never seen me in a dress before. She was wearing the silver dress we bought, and as usual, she looked amazing.

"Let's come in!"

The boys were nowhere to be found. Jonathan had probably went to join them. Isabelle slathered on some eyeshadow, mascara and blush and a lot of unnecessary makeup products. But when I looked in the mirror, I had to say I looked pretty… striking. Well, noticeable, I guess.

I gave Isabelle a smile for thanks and started brushing some blush off of my face, which came off onto my fingers.

"Stop, Clare. You'll ruin it." Ordered Isabelle.

I gave a frown and stopped brushing on my face, although I felt slightly uncomfortable with makeup on. My eyelashes felt as if they were wearing little, liquid, black sweaters.

And then she started working on my hair. Using sparkly hairpins, she pinned my hair up into an elegant swirl, the pins holding it in place. A few loose curls spilled out from the back.

I looked great, I had to admit. Isabelle was amazing and so skilled in this area. Making people look great.

"Oh my god, Clary. You look fabulous." She smiled mischieviously. "Do you want some glitter?"

I shook my head vigorously before giving her a hug for thanks. Izzy returned the hug.

"Let's go down. The boys are probably waiting for us."

I nodded and followed Isabelle down the stairs into the living room. Jace, Alec and Jonathan gawked at us as we sat down onto the couch.

"Nice dress, sis. I haven't seen you wear one for a very long time. Until now. And nice makeup."

Jace's eyes followed me. Finally, he stood up, sauntered over to me and whispered in my ear.

"You look beautiful, Clary."

I felt my face turn red, and I tried to ignore the giggling that was pretty much coming from Isabelle.

I wished that I could immediately say something, like "You look amazing too, like you were an angel from above" but instead I sucked in a breath and gave him a smile. He actually did, with a white dress button-down shirt and a gold tie the same color as his eyes.

Why did he have to look so hot? I literally had to tear my eyes away from him every 10 seconds, like what happened on the first day I saw him. Well. He seemed to notice and grinned.

I kept on staring at him, even in the car. It was getting dark, so when nobody was watching, Jace decided to pull the pins out of my hair so the red curls cascaded down my back. I fluffed it up and glanced at Jace.

_**I look better this way?**_

"No, you look great either way, just that I like it down better."

I flushed and went back to looking at my own lap.

o~O~o

I watched happily as the next act finished. Isabelle and Jace would be up after this next performance. For some reason, they were performing right at the end. Probably Ms. Belcourt.

Aline and her gang had started "Cool dancing" (That was what I called when girls wore LA caps, plaid shirts and skinny jeans and started doing those break-dance like dancing) a while ago, and in that performance, I had to tear my eyes away from them 10 seconds into the dance and focus on something else.

Like a pimple on my brother's cheek.

I was sitting right in the front row of the hall with Jonathan, Alec, my mom and Luke. I couldn't wait to see Isabelle and Jace. I knew they would win.

I did.

Halfway through some seniors' breakdancing (What was up with people and dancing these days?) , I heard a loud cough from the backstage, even through the loud music.

After a few minutes, I saw someone emerge from the hallway that led to the backstage and run up to me. Jace?

Yes, it was Jace. What was he doing here?

He had a panicked expression on his face. "Clary, Isabelle has a problem with her throat. She was eating just now and then she just started choking halfway through. She can't sing. Her voice is messed up, croaky and it cracks. She's coughing hard now. Please, can you please take her place?!"

What? He knew I wouldn't talk, let alone sing. Jonathan stared wide eyed at him, then at me. Then he nudged my arm.

"Come on, Clary. You'll do it. You can sing, can you?"

I turned to him, a horrified expression on my face. No! I could barely speak, and now he actually asked me to do it? And sing? I couldn't sing. Were they out of their minds?

And the nightmare. The nightmare a week ago, about my voice, about the flowers…

But I knew that wasn't true. The roses- Isabelle had it sorted out with Magnus. My voice- My voice wasn't really like that, was it…?

It was a nightmare. It wasn't true. And the bet… We had to win it.

_**Why can't someone else sing it with you? Why can't you do a solo? I can't speak, let alone sing!**_

And then Isabelle came running out of the door leading to the backstage, almost tripping on her silvery dress. She came towards me, a same panicked expression on her face. "Clary! Clar- _Cough! _Please help!" Her voice really was messed up. Her cheeks were bright red. "Please, Cla-" Her voice cracked mid-word

I looked around helplessly at Jonathan. He nodded, urging me on. He probably knew about my stupid singing-in-the-shower hobby.

I wanted to help Izzy. So I did.

I let Jace drag me into the backstage, meeting the shocked faces of the competitors.

"Listen I'm sorry Clary about this, I never wanted Isabelle to mess her voice up. I told her not to eat that freaking danish and when she laughed those bits and pieces just flew into her windpipe. I'm sorry about this-"

I held up a hand mid-sentence to stop him from saying any more, and he obeyed.

The performance was going to end really soon, I could hear, and then the music stopped outside.

I heard the announcer announce Isabelle and Jace's names, and I had floated out of the backstage and into the shining lights in a daze.

"Ahem. This isn't Isabelle Lightwood. She is Clary Fray. My sister Isabelle there got a little sick so Clary is willing to take her place." Jace stuttered nervously. Stutter? He never stuttered.

"Okay, then." One of the judges, which, unsurprisingingly, was Ms. Belcourt, said. "You may begin whenever you are ready."

Well, they surely didn't know that I never talked. Paradise started to blare through the speakers, and I looked around, pretty much panicking my heart out. I looked for Jonathan, Alec, my mother and Luke in the audience. I spotted them, and they were grinning and giving me thumbs ups.

Encouragement. I felt it again. From the sign-up sheet, from the Fruity Tutti fight, from the rock climbing. I gave people encouragement and they gave it back to me.

Were they going to be afraid of my voice?

The tune started and Jace decided to help me sing the pre-chorus. I knew that I couldn't stand there like an idiot without singing. I would be the laughingstock for a few weeks. And I wasn't about to let that happen.

Well, nobody knew I had this one secret, this one deep, dark secret, that I have never told a single breathing soul about. I guess. Did Jonathan actually hear me?

The pre-chorus was ending soon, and the chorus was going to start.

I turned back to Jace and his eyes were urging me on. The fascinating shade of gold, glimmering under the silver lights, outshone the stars.

So I sang.

"_And dreams of Para-Para-Paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-Para-Paradise…." _

My voice came out the way I expected it to be.

Honeyed and breathy. It came out weak at first, but it gradually became stronger.

Jace was smiling as he immediately joined in.

"_And dreams of Para-Para-Paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-Para-Paradise…."_

I sang my favorite part. "_And so lying underneath those stormy skies _

_She'd say, "Oh, I know the sun must set to rise..." _

This song actually could relate to me. Really relate to me. That was why I loved it so much. Being the girl from this song, I sang it with passion and faith in myself.

The audience, the judges, the flashing camera and stage lights and the heat melted away from me, until it was only me, Jace and our voices.

The song came to an end. Way too quickly. Before I knew it, the roses rained down on me. I smiled. so Magnus and Isabelle made it work.

I stared up into the ceiling, the cascade of roses falling down onto me. They immediately filled the hall with its sweet scent.

"Clary?" Jace was next to me now, and he held out 3 roses to me.

3 roses. Did I know what that meant?

I took them, just as he placed both his hands onto my cheeks and lifted my face, up, making me stare into his eyes.

"Do you know what that meant?" He asked me breathlessly.

I stared at the roses in awe, and then I nodded, looking back up at his face. And I nodded. 3 roses. They meant..

And then he kissed me.

His hands went down from my face to my waist. My eyes went wide in shock at first, but I gradually relaxed and slowly tangled my hands into his hair.

It wasn't too long, but it was able to make my body shiver and my face burn, as if it was on fire.

All I can say was: Wow.

Well, all I could hear as the audience applauded was the rapid thudding of my heart. The judges made a few compliments on my voice as I clutched the roses in my hand, Jace's arm around my shoulders.

"Amazing voice, Clary." Ms. Belcourt smiled warmly at me.

Well, I said something just now. And to be honest, I couldn't really resist the temptation to speak a few words now.

"Um, thanks!" Were the first words I had uttered since eight years ago.

I had to admit, waiting in the backstage for the judges to make up their mind was quite uninteresting, so I decided to spend the whole time talking to Jace, fiddling with the roses. Aline kept on shooting me killer glares.

Yeah. She could be jealous all she wanted. I have decided to speak. Jace decided to kiss me. Did she have a problem with that? Yes? Then she better go cry a river, build a bridge and get over it.

"Thanks for having faith in me, Jace."

He whispered sweet nothings into my ear, and I was pretty sure that I was in love with him when he pecked my lips.

And then I started thinking about the kiss on the stage, staring dreamily at Jace. It was quick, yet so perfect and soft, like a light brush of dragonfly wings on water.

And then came the announcer.

"Ladies and gentlemen and students, we are pleased to announce the winner of Alicante's Got Talent this year. It is…"

I let out a squeak of surprise, and Jace's arm went tighter around me. I squeezed on the stems of the roses.

"Drumroll please."

Drumroll started around the hall.

"It is…."

"Aline Penhallow and her friends!"

* * *

**"Aline and her friends". Sorry I couldn't think of anything else, and frankly, "Aline and her group" or "Aline and her dance group" or "Aline and the Princesses" would sound stupid. lol**

**The kiss will probably be described in detail soon, and it will probably be in a Jace POV I could be doing afterwards.**

**Anyway, "Everything will me OK in the end. If it's not OK, it isn't the end." ****Quote for this chapter. :D **

**My next update will me soon, maybe during the weekend or sooner. Thank you for all the positive feedback I got!**

**And yeah, I'm working on a new story (Just the first chapter) for an all-shadowhunter story, and it would be posted after this story is finished, which probably would be... I don't really know.**

**Hope you liked it. Thanks!**

**-Nicole**


	15. Chapter 15- The Sun Must Set to Rise

**A/N: Hey. As I said, I would update in the weekend. :)x**

**Anyway, today I was at this learning course, and I met this girl. This was our convo.**

**Girl: Hi! My name's Jacey. What's your name?**

**Me: Did you say your name was Jacey? How do you spell it?!**

**Girl: J-A-C-E-Y. What's your name? **

**Me: OMG CAN I CALL YOU JACE FOR LIKE, A NICKNAME?**

**Girl: Um, sure, what's your name..?**

**Me: Nicole! IT'S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU JACE! **

**Yeah. Typical TMI-fangirly me.**

**Anyway, this is chapter 15. Thanks to the 23 people who reviewed the last chapter! Honestly, I don't really know how I feel about this chapter. I hope you enjoy, and the truth might be spoken next chapter.. SCROLL DOWN! :D**

* * *

I froze. What? This wasn't true. Out of the 21 acts that performed in this show, they chose ALINE and her FRIENDS? Why couldn't they have chosen the seniors' Breakdancing?!

And this would mean… Dates. Both dates for Isabelle and Jace. And Jace was going to follow Aline's orders. She had won the bet.

The bet. The bet. The god damn bet.

I got angrier and angrier as Aline and her friends squealed, laughed and danced around at the corner of the room. I knew I looked murderous, my eyes narrowed, a fire raging in my eyes, which has probably eaten up all bits of green iris.

My body was shaking with anger, and my hands were balled into fists. Ever had that moment when your amygdala just takes over the whole of your brain? This was one of the times. Well, Jace's grip and his hand that was rubbing circles over my back were the only things that were restraining me from going over there and giving that girl a serious beatdown, or clamping my hands over my ears and scream until my throat went raw.

Trust me, Jace was angry too.

She finally turned around, smirked at me evilly. And then it was replaced by a hungry look directed at Jace. And then she finally gave him a "flirty" wink. Jace scowled and looked away, as usual.

She gave a small smile. Well, she didn't seem to mind that he freaking kissed me anymore. She would just order him around in their "date." Who knew what they would do?

But again, this was Jace. I was pretty sure that someone like him could restrain Aline from doing anything.

"Are you actually going to go?" I said into his ear softly, in a trembly voice since I still wasn't used to me talking yet.

And who knew who she would set Isabelle up with in her blind date?

"No." He told me.

And then Aline and her friends sashayed over to us.

The fire came back into my eyes. "What's your problem?"

"Aww. Poor little Clary. She's _jealous _we won because she doesn't want her little boyfriend to go on a _date _with me. Although it won't be a date. It'll be something more _intense. _Ew, what's wrong with your face? It looks like your face caught on fire and someone tried to put it out with a fork. Oh, and the little girl's now talking! We should give her an award."

And then she bent down to untie her shoes. She pulled her dirty sock off of her foot and then dropped it in my lap. "That's your award."

I lost it. Before Jace could grab my arm, I slapped her, the hardest I could, on her cheek. The sock fell onto the floor.

"Bltch! Before you say anything about me, you should check the reflection in your mirror. You know, a pig was always right under your nose." I nudged the sock with my foot towards her. "Eat the sock, bimbo."

"Clary. Calm down." Jace hissed into my ear because he was so determined that we would stop the argument. Wrong.

Then he turned to Aline. "Watch your mouth, Aline. Don't mess around thinking you can get away with anything. You can't." And then he shook his head, muttering about cochinas.

"Oh, you're dating her now, are you? Be careful, little golden angel, she will be a bore. She's an insecure little freak."

And then she whispered in my ear. "Look at you. Nobody wants that eleven year old body of yours. You're nothing. He's going to dispose of you like another one of his toys." And then she smirked, giggled and sashayed away.

Tears welled in my eyes. That did hurt. And it was true. Nobody actually wanted me. Since when did Aline Penhallow, my torturer for 3 years, ever actually hurt me with her razor tongue and hot body even once?

"Clary? What did she say-"

"Damn this." I cut him off. "I'm over. Yeah, everything she said was true."

Then I ran out of the backstage, my heels clicking.

"Clary!"

I didn't know what was happening. I felt sick, wanting to throw up.

I spilled out of the hot, stuffy hall. All of the lights were switched off inside so nobody could see me, and I ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up. Well, the huge lunch I ate earlier paid off.

As I was puking my guts out into the toilet bowl, I heard the judges congratulate the winners in the hall. _Well, she's going to get what she wants. Her date._

I looked wildly around the stall. Somewhere in the distance, even with my fuzzy hearing, I heard someone calling my name repeatedly. My gaze came to rest on the roses that I had forgotten I was holding. Scowling, I flung them into the vomit-filled toilet.

And then the blackness that has been hovering at the edges of my field of vision a while earlier, engulfed me whole.

o~O~o

_Aline's red lipstick-caked mouth moved as endless strings of swear words poured out from it. I clamped my hands over my ears, trying to block out what she was saying, but her voice got louder and louder every time I did so. I tried to kick her, but it seemed like an invisible barrier was keeping us apart, but she could pass through it. I couldn't touch her._

"_SLUT!" I tried to scream over her, but it was no use. The disgusting words mind-raped me, and I screamed._

_And then I fell into something oily and gross. An oil swamp. The liquid filled my mouth and I watched as Aline and her friends laughed and prodded me with a stick as I got deeper and deeper into the swamp._

"_If you were on fire, I wouldn't spit on you!" Came Aline's sing-songy voice as I drowned in the swamp._

_I screamed my throat raw as Aline and her friends' laughter echoed over and over again like Paradise in my ears._

My eyes opened, and I became aware of someone holding me. Jace? Isabelle? Jonathan? My mother? Luke? Alec? Magnus?

It wasn't Jace. It was my brother.

"Jon." I murmured

"_Clary!"_

In a daze, I turned my head to the left. All of them were there. Isabelle, Jace, Alec, Magnus, Luke, who were all looking at me in concern. My mom was holding on my arm.

I was on a bed. Well, my own bed.

"You're awake! What happened? Why were you in the bathroom? You were vomiting, right?" Jonathan started talking.

"Later. I'll tell you later." I moaned. "Please let me sleep."

So they did. They all left me alone inside my room to sleep peacefully. Or so I thought.

My body was freezing cold after the nightmare. I shivered and twitched nervously.

As I fell asleep, I became aware of someone wrap their arms around me.

o~O~o

_Aline finished kissing Jace, a glint in her eyes. Jace was probably still in a daze when Aline fished out a knife from her pocket and made it creep toward his back. He never noticed me. I was standing at the side, frozen, unable to move, as if I was in a block of ice, as I was forced to watch helplessly._

_The tip of the knife rested on his back, right on the place of the skin where his heart should be. And it entered swiftly into his body. His cry raised the hairs at the back of my neck as I squeezed my eyes shut, but immediately, they forced themselves open._

_And then he crumpled to the ground, dead. _

"_Jace!" I screeched._

A whimper escaped my lips as I woke up, trembling, my cheeks burning, my hands numb. I thrashed around the bed.

"Clary." Jace's arms tightened around me, and I started to cry into his chest.

"It's all right." He whispered, stroking my hair and my back. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

My crying gradually went away, became slower as I went into the sniffling can't-stop part as I tried to hiccup out an answer into his chest. I lifted my head up from it.

"D-Dre-Dream." And then I remembered Aline's words earlier, and my body went rigid.

"Don't worry. I'm here and nothing can hurt you." Jace said with a comforting smile. He rubbed my back, causing the rigidness to go away. I snuggled on to him and looked up into his honey golden eyes.

"I watered your Clary Sage for you. You kept it living for quite a while. Clary the gardener, maybe?" Jace said as he pointed to the beautiful blooming Clary Sage.

"What happened? What was the dream about?"

My eyes widened. "I- I- don't really- know…"

"Oh." He said softly. "It's okay." He rocked me in his arms. "Are you going to tell me what Aline said?" He whispered.

My blood turned cold and my body went rigid. He seemed to feel it.

"Clary, you will need to talk to me eventually.." He whispered.

"Okay. Fine. She said.."

He stroked my cheek lightly. "Hm?"

"She told me that you would just ditch me after you.. you had fun with me because.. you.. you wouldn't want my eleven year old body.."

"Don't listen to her, Clary. Everything that comes out of her mouth is incoherent shit. Her brain's swiss cheese. Don't listen to her. You're perfect and beautiful. I have never met or seen a girl as beautiful as you. I'm crazy about you, Clary. Do you know what Isabelle said to me so I would perform in the talent show with her?"

My breath was sucked in. I shook my head.

"She told me that I could sing to impress you."

"What?" I jerked my head up lightly.

"Yes." He whispered.

I caressed his cheeks and kissed him passionately. After a while, he broke apart and continued rocking me back and forth. In that moment, I felt safe. I slipped away as he planted kisses onto my forehead and cheeks. Who cared about what Aline said? She can talk her trash, but what I know and believe is more important.

"You know, I don't care who won anymore. But just don't go to the damned date with Aline."

"I won't. I promise. Wait a moment." He whispered to me, and he left the bed. Immediately I felt the warmth seep out of me as Jace left. And then he returned with something in his hand.

My iPod. It played Paradise softly as Jace curled up into my bed and wrapped his arms around me again.

"You know, the sun must set to rise." He whispered into my ear, quoting a sentence from the song. A slight smile came onto my lips as I fell asleep, melting into his radiating warmth.

* * *

**I hope it was okay and you guys liked it. Thanks for reading! **

**Please review! :)x**

**Your hopelessly devoted author,**

**-Nicole**


	16. Chapter 16- I Hate Mondays

**A/N: Thanks soo much for 20k views and the 198 reviews you all gave me!**

**Sorry for the late update. This is Chapter 16. I like to surprise..**

**SCROLL DOWN PEOPLE**

* * *

"Hey. Clary?" Someone shook my shoulder lightly.

I turned around, blinking sleepily. Yellow sunlight was shining onto my face, and Jace's head was propped up on his elbows which rested on my bed.

"Good morning." I said in a small voice. I felt hot, like my face was on fire. When I swallowed, my throat hurt.

He put a hand on to my forehead and cringed, pulling his hand away from it. "You have a fever."

I groaned.

A fever. A fever meant a lot of things. No ice cream, no going outside and no seeing the animals at the shelter.

Of course, I was sick when I woke up so I must stay in and drink chamomile tea all day.

Jonathan was of course very surprised when he walked by my room and saw me and Jace in a bed together, so he woke him up and had a little, what he called "Brother-to-boyfriend talk". Of course, my face turned bright red after he said that.

I wasn't clear if Jace was my boyfriend. Well, I hope so. I'd love to have him as one.

I blushed at the thoughts.

Jonathan demanded to know everything about last night. I groaned.

I told him about me having to sing, Aline's bet and winning it, about Isabelle's blind date in the bet, and something I didn't want to talk about: Jace's date with Aline. Well, although he said he wouldn't go, I still dreaded talking about anything that was slightly related to it.

"Knowing Jace, he won't go. But Aline'll be flouncing around the school tomorrow in a pink dress, a crown and a bunch of flowers in her hand, blowing kisses to everyone she walks past."

I giggled. "That's kinda… juvenile."

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "I know, right! But we gotta face it."

And gym. Tomorrow we had gym.

I started working on the monologue we had to do for drama.

Ugh.

o~O~o

Even though I was sick, I HAD to go to school. Well, I had to admit, most of my fever was gone now, but I still felt queasy.

It was raining outside, the damn weather, so we had to carry an umbrella.

I had a feeling that at the end of the day I would be severely humiliated.

Yes, I was at school again, on a dreaded Monday morning.

The images of vomit-covered roses, a ripped green dress and her sneering, laughing face appeared in my mind as Aline leaned against her car, wearing an identical white dress as her drones, her arms crossed, looking at me with a little smirk on her face.

I could slap it off of her.

She already has a freakly all-girls fanclub crowded around her. They were mostly freshmen and lower grades. Isabelle complimented me and Jace and how good we did on the stage, and so did Alec. And then Isabelle said something that made my ears flare up.

"You two are such a _cuteeee_ couple together!"

And then Jace pulled me close and kissed the top of my ear. They all started laughing when I turned as red as a ripe tomato.

Well, what pissed me off the most was when my friends and I were walking into the school, she came up all in our faces and said hello.

She said _hello. _

It didn't surprise me when she reminded Jace about their little date after that. "Meet you at the entrance after school! If you don't show up, it proves you're a coward! Remember, I won the bet!"

Pffffft.

I had learnt that she had fixed Izzy up with some freaky Julian dude.

"Forget it, I'm not going." Isabelle muttered.

"She won the bet."

"I'm going to get out of it, I know I will."

"Are _you _gonna go?"

"Yeah."

My eyes widened and I shot him a look of betrayal.

"I'll deal with her. I can deal with her! I'll wipe her out from our lives! And the sooner it's done, the better it'll be!"

"_What? _I thought you said you were not going! Seriously! You promised me! Why do you want to go anyway, just to 'deal with her'? Not going is perfectly fine!"

"I never said that."

"Never said what?"

"I never said I wasn't going."

"_What?" _He knew perfectly he had. For some reason, he wasn't accepting the fact that he did.

"Well, I don't want her to label us as the _losers _of this school! I want her out of our hair."

"Since when did you care about what she thought?"

"I don't. Just that I don't want us to get humiliated! In future!"

"_Humiliated. _And going on a god damn date with her actually helps."

"I can _clean things up, _Clary! Since we made a big freaking mess out of the talent sh-"

He cut off when he saw my expression.

"Whoa, whoa, guys, _chill._" Started Jonathan, standing in between both of us, hands raised up.

…_..I hate Mondays, _I thought as I spun around, trembling with rage. Tears threatened to spill out from my eyes.

"Clary! Wait! I didn't mean that! Clary!"

I rushed away from them as fast as I could. I heard Jonathan walking after me fast.

"Um, Clary, maybe you should hear what he has to say first."

I shook my head. Did he even know what he just said? Well, it looked like he didn't mean anything he said last night.

Looks like, I, very stupidly, fell for it. Well, here was what I learnt. Never fall in love with someone, because most of the time they will screw you up.

Well, I'm now screwed up.

o~O~o

I plugged in my earphones and scowled at the board as I listened to Viva La Vida in English. Actually, no. Not Viva La Vida. That reminded me too much of the first day of school.

So I tapped on to Thrift Shop.

Yeah, I normally didn't listen to anything other than Coldplay, so this also actually took me by surprise.

I tried to ignore Jace's staring eyes as I watched Ms. Herondale enter the room. This was like the Lily thing, only a million times worse.

I knew he wanted to talk to me, but I had drawn a square outside along my desk so no one could step into the area inside the square clearly by just plugging my ears in and scowling at everyone.

Well, Jace clearly didn't get that because he walked over to me and tapped lightly on my shoulder, his tone desperate. "Clary, can I explain? I know you thought that- It isn't what you thought- Please forgive me, I didn't mean to say that- I didn't mean it! Please let me explain what I originally wanted to say-"

Blah blah blah.

I was about to say "No, you have Aline," when Ms. Herondale walked in.

"Mr. Wayland, please." She gestured at his desk. "Sit down."

I smiled at Ms. Herondale gratefully for thanks.

"Oh, and before we start class, Ms. Fray and Mr. Wayland. Meet the principal at his office during period 5."

What could Mr. Starkweather possibly want that had to do with me and Jace? Ugh. A lecture? I was not looking forward to a lecture.

I listened to Ms. Herondale speak with my head on the desk for the entire time.

Period 5 came soon enough and I was here, standing in front of Mr. Starkweather's office, waiting for him to allow me in. _Jace_ stands a few feet away from me, obviously given up after a few attempts to try to get me to speak to him, and listen to him. I had put my earphones into my ears after the fourth time he asked me, and he stopped.

Well, I still am angry at him for snapping at me. Why would he say that? After all of the effort I've put into singing that song in the talent show, and he said I screwed over.

I didn't like the way we ended things.

Well, he _didn't _have faith in me and probably thought I was lame.

And he was desperate not to be labeled as a "LOSER" by Aline. I thought he hated her and didn't care what she thought!

Mr. Starkweather opened the door. "Ah, hello, Clary and Jace. Please enter."

I kept my distance from Jace as I walked into the office.

"The others will come soon."

The others? Which others?

The door swung open again and four girls in matching white dresses sashayed into the office.

"Mr. Starkweather! It's a pleasure to see you! I'm sure you've seen my fabulous performance, and-"

Aline cut herself halfways when she saw me. And Jace.

"Mr. Starkweather, what are _they _doing here? I thought it was only me and my girls and Daniel and Julian-"

I narrowed my eyes. What the hell did she mean?

"Oh, no, Aline. I've chosen the best performances in the show, not the ones who won first, second or third place. They will be joining you and the others in this."

Aline's mouth fell open, her eyes bugging out. She looked like the freaky ghoul dude from Scream.

"Uh, Mr. Starkweather, may I ask what's happening…?" Asked Jace. "Because me and Clary here would like to know…..?"

I glared at him and turned back to Mr. Starkweather.

"Oh, nothing much. You will be having a whole-school performance on Friday. Re-enacting your performances. After all, you two were so good, we decided to choose you and some others!"

Are you kidding me?

A whole school performance. The sixth, seventh and eighth graders, and the freshmen and sophomores. And the seniors. Possibly the teachers and parents.

With Jace.

And without the freaking roses.

Frankly, I didn't feel like singing it one more again, with so many bad memories associated with it.

And, don't forget, me and Jace are kind of in a fight right now.

Nooooooooo.

o~O~o

I was in a deadly bad mood for the rest of the day. I pushed the people who tried to come near me away.

I ate alone at lunch. Even Jonathan wasn't here. Probably eating with the rest of the gang.

I was eating a barfburger. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat as I quickly filled it up with barfburger.

After a couple of bites, I threw it into the bin and got out of there.

Thank god stupid rock climbing was now over, and we now had…. Health and nutrition.

"We will now be focusing on Health and Nutrition, students." Ms. Nightshade said.

I couldn't help but scoff.

And then we were gathered in the auditorium to watch a forty-minute-long documentary about keeping yourself healthy and fit.

As you know, I had this stupid habit of sleeping in boring situations. So I did, and I got humiliated by Ms. Nightshade by trying to wake me up. I literally was lying on the ground.

Because of that, I needed to do extra work.

"Record down what you eat and how you can improve your diet for the next week, Clarissa, and submit it in to me."

I really need to cut this habit out.

The dark cloud hovered above me as I trudged home with Jonathan. Ugh. The dreary weather really matched my mood.

"Clary, are you okay?"

You don't say?

"Clary, talk to me."

"Seriously, Jonathan. I'm tired, sick, bored, screwed over and insulted enough. Please leave me alone for today."

He nodded impassively.

I got a few texts from Jace, and Isabelle.

I frowned as I clicked on to one of the messages from Isabelle.

_Clary, call me!_

_-Iz_

Should I?

* * *

**Clary's stubborn. Like in the book xD**

**Anyway, please forgive me for doing this, but I like to surprise. Well, the show's not over, and Clary and Jace have to make do without roses. And with the whole school watching, AND with them in a fight. Wtf is going on in your brains, Jace?**

**Anyway, I'm reading this awesome story called _Worst Summer _by TheDauntlessNephilimTribute. You should go check it out. It's amazing!**

**Until next time! :)x**

**-Nicole**


	17. Chapter 17- Back In My Face

**A/N:**

**I'M BACK FROM THE DEAD.**

**Yeah, I actually updated! [Short chapter] Sorry. :(**

**Major accomplishment. Don't you just hate colds and oral French tests? And especially when you have a COLD and an ORAL FRENCH TEST tomorrow.**

**Hmph.**

**Anyway, thank you for your support and reviews and all the stuff.I had a massive case of writers' block after finishing the last chapter, so now, after a long, annoying week, I have finally UPDATED. If you have time, please check out my new story, Broken Glass Hearts! It's about shadowhunters and Clary wearing a mask!**

**Your help would be very greatly appreciated. **

* * *

I did end up calling Isabelle. She immediately picked up.

"Clary! Listen, Jace didn't mean it. He never did! He just cared for you and just said everything out in a rush, just that!"

I scoffed. "Sounded like he did. And no, I won't believe that. I go with my heart."

"You know, he's kind of stubborn sometimes. No offense, but so are you sometimes. He says things without thinking about what he is going to say most of the time."

"Right." I muttered. "Is he on his _date?"_

There was a pause before Isabelle answered. "Yeah. Clary, listen he's doing this for your-"

"Nah, I've had enough." I said and hung up on her. I turned my phone on silent and ignored Isabelle's calls as I trudged into my room and got dressed.

Got dressed for what, exactly? I didn't know. I just wanted to go out and clear my head. Breathe in some fresh air and forget the drama that is currently going on in my life right now.

So I did. Holding on my diary and pencils, I ran down the stairs of my house and outside, stormed through the garden and onto the slippery still-wet-with-rain sidewalk. I started walking and walking, until I reached the animal shelter. So much for fresh air.

I haven't been here for too long. I bursted through the doors and into the shelter to greet Elodie. She smiled, and handed me a sweatshirt.

"You're here, Clary dear!"

I nodded gratefully and headed to the backyard.

I sat down under the tree and on the damp grass and leaned my back against the trunk as I drew furiously into the sketchbook. Drawings of dark skies, roses, weird black masses and people were included in there.

I drew out my misery, and I actually barely knew what I was drawing. When I looked down, it was some massive dark mass with glowing white eyes. And a girl with wavy hair and a coldplay t-shirt standing- and _smiling_ next to it.

Wow, what the hell! Did I draw that!?

After twenty minutes of sitting there and sketching, I heard a commotion at the door. I looked up.

A certain _someone _with a girl clinging on his arm entered the backyard, a sweatshirt draped over his shoulders.

The certain _girl _was dressed in a skimpy red dress, an elegant bun and silver dangly earrings. I flinched and actually tried not to smile because _Jace _had a worn navy t-shirt and black jeans on while she was clad in royalty. She was sneering like there was something stuck at the bottom of her stilettos.

Jace scowled and tried to shake Aline off of his arm. "Ja-_ace!" _Aline whined. "Why are we at a nasty, dirty, disgusting place for animals? I thought you were going to take me somewhere impressive rather than here!"

"Shut up." Jace hissed. Then his innocent gold eyes turned back to me, and I could read what they were saying. _Forgive me, please._

Why did Jace have this stupid habit of coming to the shelter's backyard when he were on dates with girls? I mean, like really. He wasn't supposed to spend his time _here. _

Well, I wouldn't mind if he brought me here on _our _date. A future date. Ugh.

That thought sent a wave of anger through me, and I fixed my eyes into the deadliest scowl I thought I could ever manage and aimed them straight at Jace. His eyes seemed to darken.

Aline noticed me. Her mouth dropped open and she turned to Jace, jabbing a finger into his ribcage. "You brought me here so you could _see _her, didn't you! I don't get it. You have _me. _You have _me! _I am totally everything you want and you are still opting for _her! _Do you know how hard it is for boys to reach me? To other guys it is considered a _privilege _and yet now you ditch me for _that- _that little-"

So many swear words spilled out from her mouth.

Didn't Jace already make it clear he never ever wanted sluts like her yesterday? Well, she never seemed to have heard him.

I swallowed, for once lost for words. For the third time in eight hours, tears swam in my eye sockets.

I didn't want to talk anymore. Did life just throw everything back into my face after me making a commitment? Hardly anyone praised me for opening my mouth to speak after 8 years!

I gave myself in for the talent show and sang for all my heart, and he just did it. He threw it right back in my face.

Well, Aline seemed to have mastered the skill of pissing Jace off. Really badly. Really, really badly.

What happened next was a blur. Jace yanked Aline by the front of her dress and dragged her outside. She started to squeal. And scream.

I heard some… noises, noises of something slamming into something else. And screeches. And then Jace came back into the backyard, bloody scratch marks all over himself, his eyes sad and even darker.

My eyes widened and I started trembling in fear. What happened? Where was Aline? What did Jace to do to her?

I stood up numbly, dropping the diary and pencil on the ground, and immediately ran out to see what happened, dodging Jace's reaching hands and voice.

"Clary, come back here _now. _You won't want to see what happened."

Like hell I will.

I slammed open the door and saw Aline sprawled on the ground, red dress ripped, eyes glazed, staring at the ceiling, motionless and with multiple purple bruises on her forehead, body and arms. Her fingernails were caked with blood.

I covered my slack-open mouth with my hand, eyes almost popping out of their sockets. I was in such a state of shock I couldn't say anything. I squeezed my eyes shut.

Someone yanked on my arm and I turned to see it was the person who was probably the cause of the death of Aline. A murderer.

I jerked my arm back, backing away from him, eyes widened in fear as I bumped into a corner of the desk. I barely noticed what he hand in his hand. I diverted my eyes back to Aline's motionless body, and finally, I screamed.

He didn't try to shut me up. He didn't try to do anything. He just stood there, without a twinge of guilt or emotion on his face. Well, actually, maybe he had.

So much for trying to breathe in fresh air and calming my nerves.

* * *

**Jace will not be in jail.**

**We'll see.**

**REVIEW!**

**-Nicole :)x**


	18. Chapter 18- Nope

**A/N: You all are probably thinking "Wtf is her problem" right now.**

**Thank goodness, Jace is not a murderer. Nor will he beat Clary up. o-o Anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing the last chapter. Ik I kind of gave you all a shock but yeah, that's what I like doing. xD**

**This is chapter 18, I guess. I'm sick today, so no school and I'm going to the doctor later. q-q**

* * *

"Clary. Screaming is not going to help." Jace said gently as I stopped screaming.

Who was he to advise me?

I quickly crouched down to look for Aline's pulse, and thank god, her heart was drumming under my fingers.

Thank god.

I wanted to lift her up, bring her to the hospital or the nearest medic.

I had no idea why, right now, I cared so much. Jace had beaten her up because she had insulted me, the shelter, and been bitchy.

But hey, you couldn't hit people so they ended up like that! He would probably go to the juvenile court or something.

"You're going to be arrested, Jace." I said really quietly.

He didn't answer me. His eyes were now possibly the darkest shade they could ever get.

Elodie bursted into the room, her eyes widening and her face turning white as she took in the scene before her. "Oh my-"

"Don't scream, Elodie, please." Jace cut her off.

"What in the actual hell just happened! Oh my, that was the rude girl volunteer, wasn't she? Get her to the nearest hospital!"

Well, that happened. Elodie phoned those guys up and they brought her to the hospital.

Some police questioned us about it and Jace, he did. He admitted it. He admitted what he did, and they took him away.

I wanted to kiss him before he left.

o~O~o

"Let me get this straight. Your boyfriend's in court, your worst enemy is in hospital and your best friend is in hysterics. And your brother is currently very, very angry."

I nodded and set my jaw. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault, Clary. It was his fault. What the actual hell was he thinking?"

"He's stubborn. But he was trying to protect me from Aline's words."

"Protecting somebody does _not _require hitting someone else. Idiots."

"He did it for me!"

"Well, why were you so stupid, then? Why did he have to _protect _you so much he had to hit someone and get them to the hospital? Why are you so… So harsh and so stubborn? Why don't you ever _think _what's best for you and then actually do the right thing instead of getting yourself again and again in trouble?!" He yelled.

"Because I had to! If you were there, you would have _known! _For goodness sake, Jonathan! You don't own me!"

"I'm your brother. I'm not letting you see Jace again, since he has transformed you into an unthoughtful, stupid person!"

And then he turned his back on me and walked away.

"Asshole." I muttered under my breath and turned back to my bed, trying not to cry. It was about 8pm now.

My phone rang. Sniffling, I clicked on "Accept call".

"Clary..." Came Isabelle's voice, hoarse from crying.

"Isabelle?" I whispered, barely audible. "What happened?"

"He's…. He's been sent to jail."

"How long?!"

"5 days."

"Oh. Thank god. He's going to be released on Friday?"

"Yes. During the morning of this Friday."

"Dammit. So the second talent show's _still _on, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be so traumatized the teachers are not going to let him perform."

"Or he's going to be out sick on Friday. Mom is very disappointed and- not to mention very, very angry with him, and she, I'm sure is going to make him go to school."

"Jonathan just forbid me from seeing him anymore. He says he's a… _bad influence _or whatever. This really has escalated quickly, from two days ago."

"Do you still love him?" The question was so sudden and so… sad sounding, I had no idea how to respond at all.

"Clary?"

"Hm?"

"Do you?"

"M-Maybe, I guess, I still do have feelings for him, but I have no idea if I can look at him the same way again." To me, he wasn't the boy, who one month ago laughed around with me when cats just spilled out of their cages and attacked me, the boy who was jealous of my Coldplay tee, the boy who had an adorable fear of ducks. He barely had the.. innocence in himself anymore. He seemed to have wounded me and turned himself into a criminal this past day.

"He cared. That never changes."

"Cared about me?"

"Yes." Isabelle said, and started to sniff again. "He's going to have to pay a fine."

"Of?"

"A large amount of money." And then she hung up.

I spent the rest of the time on my bed sulking. A while later, mom came up and sat next to me on my bed.

"Clary, dear, are you alright?"

_You don't say?_

I thought I made it pretty clear that I _wasn't _alright. Then I realized that my mom never really cared. She never really came up to me and spoke to me. She never asked how I was doing. She never asked how things were going on, and how her "little girl was finally growing up and has finally opened her mouth to speak since eight years ago". She never bothered. Why? Probably because she was too pre-occupied with Luke.

That just gives me another reason to hate Luke.

So I just shouted at her to leave me alone but she didn't budge. Instead, she sat next to me on the bed, stroking my hair lovingly while I gritted my teeth and tried not to express my anger towards her.

Yeah, I feel alright with a jailed up boyfriend, an angry brother and a best friend who is currently in hysterics.

Then the thought hit me- My mom barely _knew _Jace was my boyfriend.

I kept on lying there and fell asleep. I had no idea if my mom left or not, but I decided that I couldn't care.

o~O~o

Choking on my spit, I woke up.

I couldn't remember my nightmare. That was when I realized how much I wanted Jace, right now next to me, to feel the warmth of him and the smell of safety. Which was lemon mixed with honey.

I looked around drearily for the clock, and saw that it was 3 am. Well, thank god. About 3 or 4 hours more of sleep. Or would my mom let me take a day off of school?

I hoped she would.

Sometimes, everybody would feel like hiding under the covers and never coming back out. Right now, I was in one of those moods. And trust me, it was annoying.

Speaking of annoying school, I realized that I have never done any homework. Did I complete everything I needed to do?

The answer was straight.

No.

Well, what did I miss? I racked my brains for anything I could actually remember, but no luck.

And then, just as my head was about to hit the pillow, _I remembered._

THE MONOLOGUE!

SHIT.

I moaned and fell onto my bed. I would receive a 0 for incomplete.

So I decided to wake up and do it, bleary eyed.

* * *

**Clary, what have you done..?**

**Next chapter will be the monologue.. Thank you all for sticking with me and this.**

**PLEASE REVIEW.**

**-Nicole **


	19. Chapter 19- My Monologue and Orange

**A/N: Sorry for not updating for so long. I had quite a lot of school stuff to do. On a happier note, I now have a beta-reader! She'll start beta-reading my story next chapter. And probably Broken Glass Hearts. I'm sorry if you didn't like what's happening in this story right now, with Jace going to Juvenile Detention Center and all. There might be alternative chapters, I guess. We'll see.**

**Anyway, we might be introducing the art of "bitchbashing" in this chapter.**

**Scroll down!**

* * *

I walked into third period with a pale face. Why did I still need to go to school?

Everybody's eyes seemed to be flitting around. When they rested on me, they immediately turned to whisper to one of their friends. News in school spread around like wildfire. I wondered what nasty lies Aline had told her friends.

Isabelle was staring at the floor, twiddling with her hair. She was wearing a pair of coke-bottle glasses and well, "nerd clothes".

She looked up and saw me and looked back at the floor again. She was trying to avoid me. But I still went over to her, anyway.

"Iz?"

She didn't reply.

"Iz?"

She looked up sadly and shook her head.

"Iz, you can't not talk to me forever." A lot of people were already now not talking to me.

I crossed my arms consciously over my body and tried again. "Isabelle, please talk to me."

She looked up sadly. "Just so you know, it isn't your fault. But Jace is probably going to find it hard getting a job when he graduates."

"I know, I'm sorry." I hung my head. "I shouldn't have let him done that."

Isabelle shrugged. "There was nothing you could do."

"Yes, I could. I could have told him-"

"No. I know him. There no talking him out of anything once he decides."

"Right." I sat down beside her and took out the limp piece of paper I called my monologue out from my bag.

_Sports is my life. I mean, I cannot live without it. I especially like basketball. Have you ever noticed how everybody is healthy and fit? That is all because of sports. I know, I know, you might think that sports are useless and a waste of time and space, but seriously, you're wrong. No. People think that if you're skinny you don't have to do sports but they're wrong! It allows you to build up physical strength and maintain your health, like how I am right now. So you should do some sports. Like me._

"It's short, but it's something."

"Um, but Clary, Ms. Belcourt wants us to write at least a full page."

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Isabelle gave me a stony look and turned away. I set my jaw and turned to listen to the teacher.

"Alright, students, I trust that you have completed your monologue. I see very good, well, dress-ups. Let's start with the presentations. Let's have…"

She pretended to think, tapping on her chin. But I already knew that she had her sights set on someone.

Let's start with… "Jordan!"

Jordan Kyle was a tall boy with brown hair who I know that was dating Maia Roberts, a pretty girl with big chocolate brown eyes.

Jordan groaned. He was in a scholar outfit. And he began to read out his monologue.

It was pretty boring school stuff. It was good, judging by the fact that Jordan was a pretty hot jock. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure why a popular dude like Jordan actually bothered to "dress up" for this drama stuff, anyway.

Maia was next and she was in a puffy, lacy grey dress. She looked like a… washerwoman.

Then she started speaking in a high-pitched british accent, about the Victorian era and stuff that made some people chuckle. I couldn't bother to laugh, though.

Next up was Maureen Brown. Then it was Kaelie. Then it was Raphaele. Then it was Daniel. And then it was... Isabelle.

She limped up to the front of the class.

"Hey." she drawled. "I'm Isabelle, and…"

She launched into her nerd speech, and everybody actually applauded and laughed at the end. And then the teacher delivered the blow.

"Jace Wayland?"

"Can I go?" I immediately asked in a strained voice.

Ms. Belcourt turned to me. "Clary? Are you Jace Wayland?"

"As you can see, Jace isn't here today." I said in a small voice, crumpling and uncrumpling the paper in my hands. "So I would like to go."

"Good job, Clary! Our first volunteer."

I made my way up to the front nervously. People gawked at my getup. I tried hard not to cross my arms over my body again.

"Um." I cleared my throat. "So…"

Suddenly the paper in my hands and the words on it seemed to look very hard to speak out. It was like I'd suddenly realized how bad and short my work was.

So I decided to make it all up.

"Oh um. Um, I- I like- I'm a bitchbasher." I said, placing my hands on my hips. The class started to laugh.

"I absolutely hate people who bully people for no good reason."

I continued on my bitchbashing speech for quite a while. I was surprised how the words flowed out of me very easily. The whole class was laughing and whooping and hooting by the end my monologue ended. My crumpled paper was on the floor, and Ms. Belcourt's eyes were bulged out.

The only people who weren't laughing in the room were Isabelle, Kaelie and Ms. Belcourt.

When I walked back to my seat, Isabelle glared. "What the hell were you thinking up there? You were just going to get yourself in trouble all over again? And, frankly, _my dear, _that is not going to help your current condition."

"It made me feel a lot better."

Isabelle's eyes narrowed. "When did you get so stupid?"

My mouth dropped open. Here I was, believing that Isabelle would actually laugh and congratulate me. Well, I certainly was wrong.

"They're just going to do that more! You've encouraged them! Sheesh, Clary!"

I opened my mouth to say something.

"Clary, please see me after this lesson." Ms. Belcourt cut me off before I could.

o~O~o

I didn't like talking about lectures teachers gave me.

Well, this was certainly a long and painful one. She had told me off quite well and had decided to call my mother, for goodness sake. Ugh. I would be grounded yet again.

And I had got a 0 for my grade.

Well, it paid off. Right now my best friend and brother were pissed at me, so I had nobody to hang out with for the rest of the day.

I ate lunch alone while people snickered about me.

I kind of actually regretted what I did. But the bitches deserved it. They seriously should stop doing that. I wonder if Aline actually learnt her lesson.

I hoped she did.

I am ruthless.

o~O~o

I shivered, walking through the hall in my monologue clothes until I reached the last cell.

The prison guard grunted and let me in. "You have 5 minutes."

Five minutes.

I walked in, afraid of what I would see.

He seemed to be asleep. His gold head lowered, and hands limply put on his lap.

The scratch marks still visible on his arms. He'd been here for one day, and he looked exhausted and terrible.

It took me everything to resist from running to him and jumping into his arms and start crying.

Instead, I walked over to him and sat down next to him. "Jace?"

He looked up.

"I was wrong. I should not have laid a hand on her, although she seriously deserved it. It just shows that I am a coward. It was pretty immature of me-"

My eyebrows knitted together as I took his hand, which was split at the knuckles and lined with scratches. I stroked it softly.

"You should probably not come near me." He said in a soft voice.

"Why?" I froze, straightening.

"Because." He said, his voice soft and honeyed. "I'm a monster. I hurt people without thinking. I was stupid and I was dumb."

I shook my head, my expression saddened by his words.

"But, Jace-"

"Yes?"

"The sun must set to rise. You know that, right."

He smiled. Then he pulled me close and buried his head in my hair, wrapping his arms around me. This was pretty much where I belonged, and I instantly knew I had forgiven him.

"You don't look bad in orange." I whispered, and he laughed. Hearing my favorite sound immediately made me brighten up, and I snuggled into his chest until the prison guard was back.

* * *

**Hope you liked the visit. Broken Glass Hearts will probably be updated soon. Please read it if you have time!**

**Oh, and don't forget to read CiaraFray260600's stories! They're amazing!**

**REVIEW!**

**-Nicole :)x**


	20. Chapter 20- Forgive and Forget

**A/N: Hey guys. I've finally updated. Sorry to say I had a case of writers' block, but this was the second part of my present to you for Christmas. This is a short chapter :c**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

* * *

Jonathan and I didn't really talk for the next day. We walked to school separate, although I had a feeling he was actually looking out for me instead of walking the long way round to school.

I saw flashes of white blonde hair behind some poles or coffee shops about four times in the entire course of walking to my school, which took about twenty minutes.

Well, I was listening to music.

When I arrived at the school, there was no pink cadillac. So Aline was not back from the hospital, although her friends were crowded together in their usual spot, bawling. Kaelie noticed me entering the school and gave me the finger.

I shrugged. But then, I heard the sound of high heels clicking. I cringed as a hand grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me toward her.

"Listen up, bitch. You'll be sorry."

I raised my eyebrow. "What?"

"Prepare to be bashed."

I almost laughed out loud at her creativity. But what did she mean? With that?

It was Wednesday. Two days until our NEXT performance, and two days until Jace was out.

I never really _paid much attention _to Ms. Whitelaw's lecture about acid nomenclature in chemistry. Then again, I never really paid much attention to any teachers this month.

"Attention, students, everything that you have learnt in this past month will be assessed next month."

And then our tests would start next month.

I tried not to fall asleep this time, and surprisingly, it actually worked!

But I had to spend the fifty minutes watching Ms. Whitelaw's mouth move, not absorbing in whatever she had said.

I walked into the cafeteria, eyeing the counter warily, remembering how two weeks ago Aline and I had our little fruit fight there. I settled into a table as started on my lunch. (Which was thankfully not a barfburger).

I finished the last bite of sandwich, trying to stop thinking of about what my brother and my friends were probably saying about me, I heard a squeal from few tables away.

Kaelie, Helen and Seelie were jumping up and down, squealing, hugging and crying at the same time. Every single head in the cafeteria was turned to them.

Everybody looked bewildered.

Kaelie was clutching her iPhone. "Listen up, everybody! Aline's getting out of the hospital tomorrow! Now celebrate!"

Well, nobody did, except for their table. They didn't seem to notice or care, though. Well, alright. Just great. My arch-nemesis was coming back from the hospital tomorrow. And she was going to be in the show. Would she have a wheelchair?

I kept on thinking if I should go to the shelter after school. Well, I did the right choice- I took the long way back home.

As I walked past the shelter, I saw Elodie's eyes widen. She saw me through the glass window, so of course I had to enter.

"Clary." She said.

"Hey, Elodie. Where am I at today?" I asked her.

"Oh, um. The backyard?" She said.

Okay. Fine. I will manage this well. So I grabbed my stuff and entered the backyard, and decided to just lean on the tree without doing any work."

After about, fifteen minutes, the door swung open and a girl walked in.

Lily.

I looked up, startled. "Lily?"

Lily's blue eyes widened. If she was here to be competitive and bitchy again, I would just get out of here.

"You were the one who was with Jace, right? Clary."

My eyes probably, like, darkened or something when I heard Jace's name because she raised her eyebrows. "Did you broke up with him?"

"No."

"Where is he, then? I thought you didn't talk."

"He's just not here. Out of town. And yeah, I guess I started talking, although I think I liked myself better mute. I seem to have caused more trouble than I could even think."

Lily shrugged. "I have to agree with you. My boyfriend and I broke up a few weeks ago, and my best friend started to date him. Talk about betrayal. Well, I've pretty much gotten over it, and, well, life moves on. You have to just- just move on and keep up with life's pace."

"Yep. Sorry to hear that, Lily. My brother and friends are angry with me. And these bitches at school keep bothering me."

"You should go talk to them." Lily says, sitting on the other side of the tree. "You can't just avoid them forever. Why are they mad, anyway?"

"They just are. I don't think I want to talk about it."

"Okay. I understand."

"Right. Thanks, Lily. You may be the first person that has comforted me for the past two days. Thanks."

"Glad to hear that. Listen, Clary. Last time I was here I was kind of… mean. Well, I'm sorry. My boyfriend just broke up with me and my best friend didn't really feel too sympathetic towards me so I was angry. I just decided to go out on the streets and hit on hot guys when I saw them. Well, when I saw your Jace- let's say I kind of got out of control. I don't normally act like that, Clary. Sorry."

"It's okay." I smiled at her. "Forgive and forget."

"Right. Forgive and forget. So… friends?"

"Friends."

We spent our time hanging out there after that. I had decided to trust her and confide on her about what happened in the past week. She had listened and had never interrupted, and had gave me some advice.

For the first time in a few days, I laughed.

* * *

**Thanks guys, for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following. I've got to twenty chapters. Thank you all so much for sticking with me for these two months. I have really enjoyed writing this story, and there might be about five chapters left before this comes to an end. :c**

**Broken Glass Hearts will be updated soon, as the last part of the present I have promised you guys. Please check out my new story 'Happily Ever After' if possible! **

**Hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I got new books, clothes and food. Is _The Nine Lives Of Chloe King_ good? :D**

**Feedback is welcome!**

**~Nicole :)x**


	21. Chapter 21- Bitch Please I'm Fabulous

**A/N: Hiii everyone! Thanks to all who reviewed, faved and followed the last chapter. This is chapter 21, and I hope you enjoy! Next week is my exam week so I don't think I will be able to update, but we'll see. Next update's probably going to be on Sunday or something. xx**

* * *

"Where were you just now?"

"Shelter." I muttered at Jonathan who was watching TV.

"You're still going there? After all that's happened…" He trailed off.

I scowled. "Yep. I still do."

"That doesn't make sense. You should stop going there."

I stopped dead on my tracks to get food. "Seriously? Jonathan, is this like, your, _thought process? _ 'Oh wow, after something slightly weird happens someplace I should quit going there and make sure my siblings stop going there too, even if they don't feel the same way!' Seriously, Jonathan? And frankly, this girl who used to be one of my enemies made me feel a lot better than you have these past few days. You know, I have no idea where you're going with all this. What's your problem, anyway? Maybe I should go back to being silent."

He covered his face with his hands. "Don't go back to being silent. I'm very proud of you."

"You never told me." I said, scary-calm.

"I know. I- I'm sorry. Really, I'm sorry."

I nodded. "Whatever. Fine. Well, I'll have to sing tomorrow. Not looking forward to it."

"Oh, right." Jonathan said, getting up and wrapping his arms around me, doing what he usually did to comfort be since I was little. "Don't worry, you'll do great. Like last time."

"Thanks, but, you really could have said that earlier."

"Right. Sorry I didn't. So now I'll say it a million times…"

My eyes widened. Jonathan _did _do that when I was mad, but he would say sorry instead of "You'lldogreatyou'lldogreatyou'lldogreatyou'lldogreatyou'lldo-"

"Alright, Jonathan, STOP."

He laughed. "Alright, sis." He ruffled my hair. "You're not mad at me anymore, right?"

"No." I said, and proceeded to grab some food to eat.

He grinned, and went back to watching TV.

o~O~o

It was another one of my mom and Luke's _Family Night _moods again. And this time, we were out BBQing.

"Um, Luke. Luke. _Luke, NO!"_

Instead of having one of those normal gas-fueled grills like other families did, we had a charcoal one.

Jonathan was hovering around Luke and mom, trying to let the fire grow bigger so we could actually barbecue.

And Luke was fanning around the fire with a magazine or something, but then he must have put the magazine too close to it because it caught on fire.

Mom screamed, Luke darted back and Jonathan and I immediately got one of the water bottles and put the fire out before it could attract our neighbors.

"Mom." Jonathan says annoyedly as Luke goes to throw what was left of the magazine into the bin. "Are you sure we're going to continue with these family nights? So far they're been a failure."

Mom rolled her eyes. "We'll see, but let's finish this dinner."

o~O~o

I walked past the hall on Thursday to see that a few girls were crowded around the stage, setting stuff up. For tomorrow. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my iPod.

And then I saw the ugly pink hair, and knew it was Kaelie. AND I noticed that they were using a lot of pink sparkly glitter and banners. Silver streamers were hung everywhere. Was that even allowed?!

I scowled. It took me everything not to yell "Hey, girlfriends! We aren't having a Barbie party in here tomorrow! We're _sixteen!"_

And how the hell was I going to sing in _that?_

Before I could suffer any more, I left the hall before anyone spotted me, and walked to study hall annoyedly.

"Isabelle." I said, sitting down next to Isabelle. She turned her head toward me.

"What?"

"The barbies are, let's say, having fun with pink and glitter and streamers in the hall."

Her eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yep. And Aline's gonna be back. Kaelie had fun ruling, now it's time for Aline to regain her crown."

"I wonder if the freshmen like pink."

I rolled my eyes. "According to Kaelie, I'm going to be bitchbashed. Let's insert a dramatic tone here."

A smile tugged at the corner of Isabelle's lips. "Haters gonna hate, refrigerators gonna refrigerate, tomatoes gonna tomate."

"Gee, thanks, Isabelle."

"The monologue wasn't that bad."

"Thanks for that too." I rolled my eyes again.

"It was good, to be honest. It was kind of funny. You were so badass up there, in those shorts and that tank with a high ponytail talking about bashing bitches."

I grinned. "I've been there."

"Yeah. Sorry, Clary, I guess I kind of… over-reacted. I think it's about… Jace. What happened to him."

"Right." I frown. "He's out tomorrow."

"Yep." She grinned. "But he's probably gonna have it on his record and not to mention, the fine."

"How much?"

"Like, $300."

"I could pay half." I offered. It was partially my fault.

"Oh, no, it's fine. We can pay it. After all, you didn't…. do that."

"Right." I said quietly. "But I still feel guilty. Just let me pay it."

"It's fine, Clary."

The teacher walked in, and I opened up my chemistry textbook and continued conversing with Isabelle passing notes.

_Do you want to go to the mall? Today?_

_-Iz_

The mall? I was surprised Izzy was up for the mall, after what happened.

_Sure. I need to take my mind off things, anyway._

_-C_

So after school, Izzy and I were walking around the mall, window shopping. She laughed. "I remember, when I first moved here, I immediately went to this mall. And I remember exactly walking along this path two months ago. I was like, 'wow, this place is amazing'. Seriously, I'm really loving New York."

I smiled sadly. "You should come to Central Park with me. And go check the daisies out."

"The daisies?"

"Yep. The daisies." And I stopped talking. Isabelle seemed to notice because she stopped too. We walked into Starbucks and bought some frappucinos.

"Hell yeah, we're white girls." Isabelle laughed.

I grinned. "White girl stereotypes. OMG, it's sixty degrees!"

"_You know what I mean!"_

"UGG BOOT WEATHER!" We chorused together, and started to laugh so loud, people next to us turned their heads toward us.

I sipped on my vanilla cream frap as we walked into a boutique. "Iz, this place is all Betty Boop."

"Still!" She squealed, holding up some dress that, I'm sure would make her look amazing.

I decided to look around the Betty Boop store, flinching at all the disney-princess like dresses and the sparkly sunglasses. I held a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses up for examining, and almost laughed at how ridiculous it looked.

As I put it back in, I saw _them._

Four of them, giggling, dressed in puffy cream dresses, hot pink feather boas wrapped around their necks. Aline was recovered, and I did not see a single scar on her body.

At all. Seemed like the hospital did a great job.

For some reason, I felt relieved. Kaelie looked really perfect- and sickening with her pink hair and getup.

I ducked behind a display of bras before one of them could look up and see me. And then, a thought struck my mind- _could those be what they would wear for tomorrow?!_

Well, if my memory was correct, the LAST TIME they were up on the stage performing, they had plaid on.

"Ohmygod, Al, you look absolutely _bootylicious _in that. Seriously, we should get these. And we could give Frecklejuice and her golden boy a showdown."

Frecklejuice? _Frecklejuice?! _Were they, like, 5 or something?

"Yeah, her toy should go screw himself."

"Ketchup on meat."

"I always find myself wondering, why the ginger minger _actually _has any friends. I mean, even an asshole like Jace deserves better!"

"He's in jail."

They all started to laugh, and I felt myself boiling with anger, wanting to go out and slap them already. And tell them in their faces, that, _bitches please I know I'm fabulous and will do better than you ever will._ But then I remembered what happened and slunk away.

"Clary?" Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around to see it was Isabelle. "Bras? Really? Do you use hot pink and black lace?"

"Hey, Iz, and no." I muttered. "It's the barbies, the princesses or Aline's little posse."

Isabelle looked up and saw the four girls. "Oh my god. Seriously. Let's go _now._"

"Yeah." I shivered. "It's very creepy. Do you think they're gonna wear that for tomorrow? They insulted me and Jace, by the way."

"I don't know." Isabelle shrugged as we run-walked out of the store. "Those bitches, I swear I'll kill them. What did they say? Seelie looks ridiculous in that boa, by the way."

We laughed, and walked out of the store to get pretzels, while I told Isabelle about what happened.

* * *

**Sorry if this seemed like a filler, the next chapter will be better ^^**

**The reviews are great, keep them coming! See you all next chapter and that would probably be the second show. And when Jace gets out! :D **

**~Nicole**


	22. Chapter 22- You Came

**A/N: Hey everyone. I'm sorry for a long update, whoa it's been about 13 days. Thanks for the reviews. This is chapter 22, probably the second to last chapter before I have Jace POVs or something.**

**Please enjoy! xx**

* * *

I woke up the next day, pretending that Jace was next to me, reassuring and comforting me. I thought about his warm lips on mine, his soft hand that touched my cheek- and knew I was going to do well this time, with Jace there or not.

It was my fault he got thrown into detention center, anyway.

I thrown on an aqua t-shirt and rainbow tie-dyed shorts, and trudged to school with Jonathan's arm around me.

It was one of the days where I begged the bell _not _to ring so I could stay in D&T forever and ever and enjoy making clocks and aprons and tablecloths. There was this pop quiz in math, and I prayed the bell not to ring as I finished the rest of the equations.

_Don't ring, don't ring, don't ring._

Unfortunately, I couldn't stop time. I walked into lunch with Isabelle, with her telling me that I was going to do brilliant this time, with or without Jace.

Well, you could say I wouldn't know how to react.

I pretended Jace was next to me, reassuring me that everything was going to be fine as I finished lunch with all my friends singing Paradise with me and buying cookies and Fruity Tutti. I cringed and laughed as I held the Fruity Tutti in my hand.

And I did that as I walked into the flurry of pink tinsels, banners and feathers that was going to be where I was going to perform in a second. And I did that as I walked up the backstage and watched the hall fill with people. The lights in the hall were out and the curtains were drawn closed.

I smiled sadly as the barbies started to prance around, in dresses and boas and huge hair. Their act seemed to be very different than the last one. I wondered if that was actually allowed.

I had to say, they were sickening- but good. They leaped around the stage gracefully like gazelles.

"Ugh, my god." I covered my face with my eyes. Thank god the next act was Daniel and his friends instead of mine.

Smattering applause greeted my ears as Daniel walked back into the backstage, wiping his sweat.

And this was it.

My eyes were wide with fear. Sweat formed on my forehead, and Jonathan grabbed my arm and whispered stuff like: "You go, sis! Don't be nervous, you're gonna be awesome."

I smiled. "Okay. I will." I looked around to see if Jace was here or anything, but I shook my head and told myself that Jace was probably still in the detention center or at home or something.

He was in there because of me.

I swallowed.

So when the judges announced mine and Jace's name, off I was. I stumbled out there while Ms. Belcourt spoke.

"And… where is Jace?"

"Jace isn't here." I said in a shaky voice. "He couldn't come to school today."

"So… you will proceed to sing alone."

I nodded. "Yes." Sounding a little breathless.

"Okay, Clary. You can start now, although we would have loved it if Jace were to be here."

I looked out at the audience, who were sat in chairs, looking at me expectantly and boredly. I looked up and around the pink flurry of a stage, with tinsel, feathers and banners. I swallowed as the intro to Paradise started.

It was actually pretty funny how the intro to the song lasted for a minute, so I had enough time to clear my voice and got my vocals ready.

And then I started to sing.

"_When she was just a girl_

_She expected the world." _I sang, trying to make my voice sound less croaky.

"_But it flew away from her reach_

_So she ran away in her sleep_

_And dreamed of para- para- paradise_

_Para-para-paradise_

_She dreamed of para-para- paradise_

_Everytime she closed her eyes."_

I took a breath. At least we didn't screw up. At least for now. Well, for the first time, I was sure I haven't. Well, who knew what could happen this time? Without Jace?

I started to sing again, putting every ounce of strength into my voice. This was the second time, and I was determined to make it- better.

"_When she was just a girl_

_She expected the world_

_But it flew away from her reach_

_And the bullets catch in her teeth_

I think I heard some running footsteps behind me. I wasn't so sure, so I chose to ignore it.

_Life goes on it gets so heavy_

_The wheel breaks the butterfly_

_Every tear a waterfall_

_In the night the stormy night_

_She closed her eyes_

_In the night the stormy night_

_Away she'd fly-"_

I closed my eyes, ready to sing the next verse without Jace, when I heard his melodic voice right behind me.

"_And dreamt of para- para- paradise._

_Para- para- paradise-_

_Para- para- paradise- _

_Oh-"_

I stood there, mouth rapt open in shock, staring at Jace who stood before me, looking very tired and pretty scruffy, dark circles under his eyes, his hair mussed, but undoubtedly beautiful at the same time.

I realized that I had stopped singing and was letting Jace take over so I continued singing again, and rushed forward into Jace's arms.

I tried not to ask him a million questions at once, but I allowed myself to ask one. "How did you get here?"

Jace didn't answer, as he was singing. He let go of me but then he reached forward to grab my hand.

He grinned. "And so lying underneath the stormy skies-"

"She said ohh- The sun must set to rise-"

Singing that line made memories from a few days back jolt into my mind, and my face reddened as I thought of crying into Jace's chest, and then kissing him with passion.

"This could be para- para- paradise- Ohhhhh." We both finished singing, and then I returned back to the annoyingly pink stage again instead of the world Jace and I was in.

"Bravo!" Came the voice of one of the judges. "That was sung very nicely, and I'm sure everyone enjoyed it. Right?"

Everybody started to clap. And by everybody, I mean, _everybody. _Every single person, as far as I could see, was clapping. And whistling. It probably was more than the last time.

Did they really find it good?

I smiled inwardly as I walked back to the backstage, my hand in Jace's. As I got in there, I started bombarding him with questions.

"How did you get here? I mean, one minute you were not on the stage and the next minute you were. How- how did you, you know, how was it? You look exhausted, by the way. I really missed you, and I'm sorry- like, really sor-"

He cut me off with a kiss, his arm wrapped around my waist, the other fisted in my hair. I fiercely kissed him back. He started to massage circles onto my back, but then I drew away from him.

"So how did you get here? I mean-"

"Well, thankfully those guys had me released about, like, thirty minutes before this show. Well, I couldn't miss it so I rushed here."

My eyes widened. "What happened? Was it fine? Was it okay?"

"It was fine. Don't worry." He said, his eyes a darker shade of gold.

"Well, you look exhausted."

"Thanks, I needed the reminder. I can't wait to get home and take a shower and just go to bed. Damn. I almost forgot my mom." He said, and he looked at me. "So… Are you, you know? Still mad?"

"Seriously, no." I said and reached up to kiss him again. But before _that _could happen, Isabelle, Alec and Jonathan burst in.

"Seriously! Great job!" Alec yelled while Isabelle went to embrace her brother. "Even without the roses and proper clothes!"

_"Jace!"_

Jace grinned as he wrapped his arms around Izzy. "Hey, Iz." And he went to sling his arms around Alec and Jonathan's shoulders.

Well, I have to say it was a happy reunion.

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**What happens in the hall after that will be next chapter, and Aline will probably fall into a vase. jk, maybe not. (LOL, KAITLYN)**

**Thank you for reading! The update will probably be soon. Please review, they make me happy. xx**

**~Nicole **


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